The long way around Pakistan: Why India wants an air route over Xinjiang, and why it isn't easy
Pakistan's airspace ban has added hours and crores to India’s westbound flights. A corridor over China's Hotan would help, but it's not easy.
The longer route has proven particularly costly for flag carrier Air India, which relies heavily on western long-haul routes out of its Delhi and Mumbai hubs. Photo: Reuters
India and China are discussing an air route over Hotan, in China's Xinjiang region, that would let Indian airlines fly around Pakistan, whose airspace has been shut to them for 17 months.
"Discussions on the Hotan route are going on between the two countries," civil aviation minister Ram Mohan Naidu told reporters on Tuesday, adding that the external affairs ministry was engaging with China.
"Let us see how it goes, but we are trying alternatives."
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Naidu did not suggest that an agreement had been reached nor gave a timeline. If the talks succeed, flights from Delhi and Mumbai would head north towards Leh, enter Chinese airspace near Hotan, turn west towards Kyrgyzstan and join existing routes to Europe, the UK and North America.
