Air India is absorbing higher fuel costs from West Asia airspace restrictions, and the impact this year exceeds what the carrier faced during the same disruption in 2024, according to a report in The New Indian Express.

The closures force the airline to reroute flights serving Europe and North America, lengthening sectors and burning more fuel on some of its longest routes. Air India's network leans heavily on corridors that cross West Asian airspace, so restrictions there bite deeper than they would for carriers with different geography.

Why does this hit Air India harder now?

The report frames the current restrictions as more damaging than last year's episode. Two factors drive that difference. First, the airline has since expanded long-haul flying, meaning more sectors now depend on the affected corridors. Second, the duration and scope of the closures stretch across a wider band of airspace, compounding the diversion burden per flight.

Air India does not publish a per-route cost breakdown, so the aggregate fuel penalty remains an internal figure. What the report establishes is directional: costs are rising, and the rise is steeper than in 2024.

What are the operational consequences?

Longer routings translate directly into:

• Additional fuel burn per Europe- and North America-bound departure
• Extended block times that compress aircraft utilisation across the widebody fleet
• Potential knock-on effects on crew duty limits and schedule padding
• Downward pressure on margins at a time fuel is already a dominant cost line

For a carrier competing against Gulf and European hubs on Europe–India traffic, added sector length erodes both cost position and schedule appeal.

What comes next?

The financial exposure tracks the duration of the airspace restrictions. If closures persist, Air India faces a choice between absorbing the fuel penalty or reshaping schedules around the affected corridors — a calculation management will weigh against the recovery in long-haul demand the airline has built since last year.