NEW DELHI, April 7: Air India, now owned by the Tata Group, has requested the Centre to intervene to ensure that the flights to Russia were restored at the earliest.
Air India so far has not made any official announcement about suspension of Delhi- Moscow flights on a long-term basis but announce cancellation only on day-to-day basis. Official sources said Air India has suspended its flight from Delhi to Moscow after international insurance underwriters conveyed to the airline that its flights landing in Russia would not be valid for insurance given the threat perception there on account of the war.
Air India, however, made only cryptic announcement that “Air India has cancelled one return flight on the Delhi-Moscow-Delhi sector of 7th April, 2022.” But inquiries made through the flight tracking portals revealed that Air India had cancelled its Delhi – Moscow flight on April 3 as well and no certainty given about the flights on the route in the coming days. Air India operates a flight on the Delhi-Moscow route every Sunday and Thursday.
Some sources in the airlines said, “Air India has reached out to the government of India seeking its intervention in the matter so that flights to Moscow could be resumed as soon as possible.”
Air India renews the insurance for its flights and aircraft every financial year beginning April 1. It typically buys insurance cover from Indian reinsurers such as New India Assurance, National Insurance Company, Oriental Insurance Company and the United India Insurance Company, and the covers are underwritten by international companies, including some UK-based firms.
Airlines buy insurance covers to protect themselves against windfall losses in case of an untoward incident or accident involving their aircraft. Every insurance cover is tailor-made for a particular airline and is generally provided by a consortium of reinsurers and underwriters.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country’s aviation was sanctioned by the West, leading to the suspension of services operated by European and American carriers. Russia’s airlines were also barred from using foreign airspace. After these sanctions, Air India was among the only few airlines, in addition to some Chinese carriers, that were still flying to Russia.
Additionally, while airlines from the US and Canada stopped using Russian airspace, Air India continued to overfly Russia for its flights between India and the US taking the shorter North Pole route. “The insurance companies have only flagged a concern over aircraft landing in Russia, not with the overflight through the Russian airspace. So Air India’s other flights to the US which fly over Russia continue to operate normally,” sources said.
(Manas Dasgupta)