Air India can't operate flights to Kabul as Afghanistan airspace closed

Thousands of Afghanistan people in chaos as Taliban set to rule the country. (Image: AFP)

The national carrier Air India on August 16 said that it cannot operate its scheduled Delhi-Kabul-Delhi flight as all commercial flights from Kabul have been cancelled following the closure of Afghanistan airspace.

An Air India aircraft tasked to fly to Afghanistan to bring out people will no longer be able to go, after visuals showed chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport as thousands were looking for a way out.

A NOTAM or notice to airmen has also been issued by the Afghanistan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) to say Kabul airspace has been closed. ACCA had on August 16 said that that Kabul airspace had been released to the military and it advised transit aircraft to reroute.

ACAA said any transit through Kabul airspace would be uncontrolled and it had advised the surrounding flight information regions that control airspace.

Air India also diverted its Chicago-Delhi flight toward Sharjah to avoid Afghanistan airspace.

The Chicago-Delhi flight will land in Sharjah for refueling purposes, the airline said. The flight will then leave for Delhi again while avoiding the Afghan airspace.