Air India Flights Avoid Iranian Airspace Amid Tension In West Asia

Air India flights have begun avoiding Iranian airspace amid soaring Middle East tensions as warnings grew of retaliation for the Israeli strike on Iran's embassy in Damascus earlier this month, sources said today.
A London-bound Air India flight took a longer route to avoid Iranian airspace this morning, tracking website Flightradar24 showed. All Air India flights bound for Europe could now take up to two hours longer to reach the destination, sources said. Air India flights to the Middle East, however, will not be impacted as they fly South of Iranian airspace.
The 'shadow war' between the two Middle Eastern countries heated up when an Israeli airstrike hit the Iran consulate in Damascus on April 1, killing seven people, including two generals.
Countries including India, France and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month.