AI cancels its only Kabul flight, diverts 2 US-Delhi flights to avoid ‘uncontrolled’ Afghan airspace

Air India cancelled its Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flight that was scheduled to operate on August 16 to avoid Afghanistan airspace after it was declared “uncontrolled” by authorities at the Kabul airport, senior officials said.

It was the only commercial flight scheduled to operate between India and Afghanistan on August 16, and Air India is the only carrier that has been operating flights between the two countries.

Moreover, the carrier diverted its two flights coming to Delhi from the US toward Sharjah in the UAE for the same reason. The airline’s San Francisco-Delhi flight as well as Chicago-Delhi flight were diverted towards Sharjah on August 16. Both the flights will land in Sharjah for refuelling purposes, the officials said. The flights will then leave for Delhi again while avoiding the Afghan airspace.

Afghanistan stares at an uncertain future as President Ashraf Ghani left the country just before Kabul fell into the hands of the Taliban on August 15. Terra Avia’s flight from Baku in Azerbaijan to Delhi in India entered the Afghanistan airspace on the morning of August 16 but then quickly turned around and decided to avoid it by flying around it.