Air India starts using Iraq airspace for New York, Newark direct flights; likely to see 10% fuel savings

The Economic Times · PTI · 2026-11-06 14:24 UTC

Air India has resumed non-stop flights to New York and Newark using Iraqi airspace, cutting journey times by around four hours to 16 hours and saving nearly 10% in fuel costs. The revised routes also offer greater flexibility in crew deployment and help ease the impact of prolonged airspace restrictions.

New Delhi/ Mumbai: Air India is now operating flights directly to New York and Newark without a stopover as the airline has started using Iraq airspace from this week, a move that has also reduced flight durations by around four hours, according to sources.

With the use of Iraq airspace, there will be around 10 per cent fuel savings as well as less burdensome crew requirements in terms of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), one of the sources told PTI.

The full service carrier, which has been significantly impacted by airspace curbs, including due to the West Asia crisis, operates one daily flight each to New York and Newark (in the US) from Delhi as well as Mumbai.

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