NEW DELHI: Air India was the only carrier from India that never stopped flying to Moscow, even after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Not just that, they even used Russian airspace to overfly to countries in the West, as the airspace was not declared a no-fly zone.
However, on Thursday they ran into turbulence after international insurance companies communicated to the airline that their flights landing in Russia would not be valid for insurance as there was an immenent threat due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
"Air India has cancelled one return flight on the Delhi-Moscow-Delhi sector today," said an Air India spokesperson adding that they didn’t have anything further to comment on the issue.
It is learnt that Air India has approached the government to facilitate the resumption of direct flights to Moscow. More clarity on this will emerge in the coming days.
Air India was operating twice a week daily flights between Delhi and Moscow every Wednesday and Saturday.
Air India reviews its insurance every April, and when they went ahead to do so this time, the issue of a threat on flying to Moscow emerged and led to the suspension of direct flights to Russia.