The ongoing India-Pakistan conflict has affected international air travel, forcing global airlines — including some from Dhaka — to take longer and more expensive routes across South Asia.
Amid the situations, Bangladesh national carrier flag-Biman Bangladesh and Dhaka-based other international carriers have been forced to redraw their flight paths to key destinations such as London, Rome, Istanbul and Toronto—adding up to two hours to air travel times, along with sharp increases in fuel usage and operational strain.
These delays stem from the closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian aircraft, a move reciprocated by India, effectively severing a crucial air corridor over the subcontinent.
Airlines now face a fragmented aerial map, compelled to loop through alternate—and often longer—routes to skirt the restricted zones.
Dhaka, which serves connecting passengers to the Middle East, Europe, and beyond, has been particularly affected.
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) sees daily operations from a mix of legacy and budget carriers—including Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, FlyDubai, Air Arabia, Jazeera Airways, and Air India. All of these carriers have had to reassess their flight paths amid the turbulence.
Speaking to the Dhaka Tribune, officials at Biman's Flight Operations Directorate and the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) confirmed that the Dhaka–London route, which once took approximately 10 hours via direct corridors through Pakistan and Afghanistan, now stretches to as long as 12 hours.
Similar detours are affecting westbound flights to Rome and Toronto, all burdened with additional fuel costs and scheduling complexities, they added.
Wishing anonymity, officials at international airlines like Turkish Airlines told this report, the airline has rerouted its Istanbul–Dhaka service, while Qatar Airways and Emirates—both of which maintain multiple daily connections between Dhaka and Europe—have had to recalibrate their schedules to accommodate the new detour.
Jazeera Airways, which uses Kuwait as a hub for onward connections, has also restructured its westbound routes. Even Singapore Airlines, which typically flies southeast from Dhaka, is monitoring the airspace congestion as ripple effects complicate turnaround logistics.
Aviation analysts note that South Asia’s dense and interdependent airspace architecture leaves little room for disruption.
They think that the ongoing standoff has fragmented a zone that not only connects the Indian subcontinent to the West but also serves as a transit corridor for carriers flying between Southeast Asia and Europe.
Aviation experts warn that without diplomatic resolution, the rerouting could become permanent, disrupting air travel from Dhaka to Doha, Delhi to Dubai, and beyond, highlighting how quickly regional tensions can affect global mobility.
