United Airlines is suspending two India routes as it evaluates the feasibility of operating these routes while avoiding Russian airspace.
With Russian Airspace In Question, United Airlines Suspends Two India Routes
At his State of the Union address on Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden announced that Aeroflot and other Russian airlines would no longer be permitted to serve the Untied States or utilize U.S. airspace. While Moscow did not immediately retaliate by blocking U.S. carriers from using Russian airspace, United Airlines has voluntarily suspended its use of Russian airspace on flights to India. Without Russian overflights, United is suspending two flights to India.
In a memo to employees, United said:
“United has decided to temporarily suspend transiting Russian airspace to operate our flights to and from BOM (Mumbai) and DEL (Delhi) India. While some routes are possible to fly, we are unable to operate our full India operation.”
In the days leading up to this announcement, United has taken heat for continuing to use Russian airspace on two routes, but will now suspend those routes, including:
- San Francisco (SFO) – New Delhi (DEL)
- Newark (EWR) – Mumbai (BOM)
These routes will be “cancelled for the next few days” as United evaluates alternative routing, which might include a technical stop enroute for refueling. Using Russian airspace cost United less than $4,000 per flight, a relative bargain compared to the additional fuel that will now be required to avoid Russian overflights.
United also warns, “We may have additional adjustments to our flight schedule for India in the days ahead as the situation develops, but we remain in close communication with our crews in India.”
Flights to New Delhi from Chicago (ORD) and Newark will continue.
CONCLUSION
United Airlines is suspending two routes to India as it re-evaluates service without utilizing Russian airspace. If your travel includes either cancelled routes, United will proactively rebook you on another routing or you can reach out to reservations to discuss your options.
image: United Airlines
Fond memories of the EWR-BOM flight – I used to fly one round trip a month for 5 years. Coach was bearable until they switched from 9 across to 10 across. Luckily was able to upgrade to PE.
can you plot this on a map so we can see why some routes are viable and others not?
Normally this flight goes over a significant area of Russia in what appears to be almost a southern routing once they do the Atlantic crossing. It continues over the Stans as well, often nearing Tashkent. The new routing will go over Europe, Turkey, ME and into India. It will add hours including a refueling stop
Not sure I follow why a refueling stop is required when the same route is followed by an AI 777 as well as the ORD DEL flight. Or even the EWR DEL which seems to be operational.
The airlines is still operating gORD-DEL and EWR-DEL, the only routes suspended are SFO-DEL and EWR-BOM.
EWR-BOM can probably operate nonstop on the outbound leg but the inbound leg BOM-EWR would for sure need a fuel stop either in Europe (FRA/LHR) or they could make it as far as YQX (Gander). SFO-DEL might be able to make it nonstop with a weight restriction (might have to block 2-4 rows) but the inbound DEL-SFO would for sure need to make a stop either in Europe (FRA/LHR) or at NRT (Tokyo) if the routing were to take it around Asia for a Pacific crossing.
There is a great tool, greatcirclemapper.net where you can determine distance, route, etc. all on a map between two city pairs. If you input ORD-DEL, EWR-DEL, ORD-HKG etc. you will see how it uses Russian Airspace.
FYI – AA never received Russia clearance last year for their JFK-DEL nonstop 777-300 flight and therefore it’s not affected by the ban.
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SAM NEEDS TO COME HOME TO THE U.S.A. TO BE WITH HIS FAMILY AGAIN. I MISS MY HUSBAND AND WANT SAM HOME.