“Most of our travel policies have an exclusion that doesn’t cover situations arising due to acts of any public authority like governments forcing airports to shut down,’’ said a senior official of New India Assurance
Mumbai: With major escalation of Indo-Pak tension on Thursday, on day 2 of military operations launched on Wednesday by the Indian defense forces against Pakistan terror camps and Indian Navy now joining the attacks, global and Indian re/insurers are almost on the verge of invoking war risks clauses to the existing policies of Indian airlines, which can either lead to cancellation of policies or continuing the policies with higher premiums.
What started as a retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack, with Indian armed forces carrying out the missile and drone strikes on nine terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on early Wednesday is now escalating into full scale war.
Until late into Thursday night, Pakistan has launched multiple missile and drone attacks on border cities -from Jammu to Pathankot and Jaisalmer -that were neutralised by Indian armed forces. Indian Air Force has also attacked a few military bases.
A total blackout for more than 7 hours was enforced in several parts of the border districts of Kutch and Banaskantha in Gujarat on Thursday night amid escalating tension between India and Pakistan, officials have said. Both Kutch and Banaskantha districts share a border with Pakistan. The lights went out around 10 pm on Thursday, and power was back after 5.30 am on Friday, they said.
Meanwhile, the global and Indian re/insurers have decided not to pay any claims of travel policyholders, who could not undertake their journey due to shutting down of airports and cancellation of flights owing to the ongoing Indo-Pak tension.
The global and Indian re/insurers have decided invoke force majeure, unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract in agreed policies, as airports have been shut down at the instance of government orders.
`Most of our travel policies have an exclusion that doesn’t cover situations arising due to acts of any public authority like governments forcing airports to shut down,’’ said a senior official of New India Assurance (NIA), the country’s largest non-life multinational.
On day 2, the re/insurers were tracking the movements of the Indian carriers more closely and asking for larger details of their flying schedules.
The customers, who couldn’t fly due to the Indian military action , can only recover refunds from the concerned airlines and no insurance claims can be paid on their travel policies.
A total of 27 airports across northern, western, and central India have been closed for commercial operations until 5:29 am on Saturday, May 10, leading to massive disruption in air traffic, with Indian airlines cancelling 850 flights on Thursday.
Flightradar24, a global flight tracking platform, showed the airspace over the western corridor of India—from Kashmir to Gujarat—was largely free of civilian aircraft on Thursday.
The affected Indian airports include Srinagar, Jammu, Leh, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Halwara, Pathankot, Bhuntar, Shimla, Gaggal, Dharamsala, Kishangarh, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Bikaner, Mundra, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Kandla, Keshod, Bhuj, Gwalior and Hindon.
The military operation, which targeted multiple terror camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir, has also prompted changes to international flight paths.
On Thursday afternoon, the defence ministry said Indian armed forces foiled Pakistan’s attempts to target military installations in 15 cities in the northern and western parts of the country using missiles and drones.
It said the Pakistani military attempted last night to target Awantipura, Srinagar, Jammu, Pathankot, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Adampur, Bathinda, Chandigarh, Nal, Phalodi, Uttarlai and Bhuj.
India on Thursday night neutralised Pakistan military’s attempt to hit military stations in Jammu, Pathankot, Udhampur and some other locations with missiles and drones as tensions soared between the two countries amid fears of a wider military conflict.
Sirens and numerous explosions were reported in Akhnoor, Samba, Baramulla and Kupwara and several other places as the Indian military carried out a massive night aerial vigil along the border with Pakistan.