Flights to Europe from India still operating—but on longer routes—as travellers seek clarity

With Gulf airspace still disrupted by the Iran conflict and Pakistan’s ban on Indian-registered aircraft, confused passengers took to social media on 28 March 2026 asking whether Europe-bound flights are running at all. In a thread titled “Are flights from India to Europe flying?” on r/AirTravelIndia, frequent flyers reported that most Indian and European carriers have adopted a northerly corridor skirting Iranian and Pakistani skies, adding 60-90 minutes to block times. Schedule data from Cirium shows that Air India’s Mumbai–Amsterdam flight (AI 155) has been re-timed to depart one hour earlier to preserve connections, while Vistara has begun tech stops in Baku for its Frankfurt service. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) confirmed to the Economic Times that carriers must file revised flight plans daily as notams change. For corporate mobility managers the implications are twofold: 1) travel-time inflation is pushing crew-duty limits, triggering more layovers and higher hotel costs; 2) some travel-insurance policies treat routes that briefly overfly conflict zones as ‘exclusions’. Companies are advised to review their insurer’s war-risk clauses and consider higher class-of-service approvals where journeys now exceed 10 hours. The good news: fares have not spiked dramatically because demand is down 12 percent week-on-week, according to online-agency Ixigo. However, seat inventory is volatile—especially on joint-venture metal such as Lufthansa/Star Alliance codeshares—so travel bookers should hold refundable tickets where possible. DGCA said it is working with Eurocontrol to open a dedicated ATC flow-management window for India-Europe traffic; the corridor would route flights over the Caspian Sea and southern Russia, bypassing both the Gulf and Ukraine war zones.