Delhi-Bound IndiGo Flight Escapes Iran Airspace Just Minutes Before Closure

NDTV:

A Delhi-bound IndiGo flight narrowly escaped the Iranian airspace before Tehran suddenly shut its airspace amid the spiralling unrest in the country. The sudden closure of the skies threw international flight operations into disarray, with major Indian airlines rerouting or cancelling some of their international flights.

Flight-tracking data showed IndiGo flight 6E1808, which departed Tbilisi in Georgia, passed over Iran at about 2.35 am on Thursday, just minutes before the closure started at around 3 am. The aircraft is believed to be the last non-Iran-registered passenger aircraft in Iranian airspace before Tehran’s aviation authorities issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), suddenly halting the movement of most flights on Thursday, except a limited number of approved international ones.

The closure ran for over four hours, according to pilot guidance issued by Iran, which lies on a key east-west flight route. International carriers diverted north and south around Iran, but after one extension, the closure appeared to have expired, and several domestic flights were in the air just after 7 am.