India overflight permits

01Who needs an India overflight permit

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) treats private, charter, business aviation and other non-scheduled flights in the same permit category. A flight that does not overfly the Indian landmass, such as some oceanic routings to Malé, may not need one; confirm this for your routing.

02Lead time, validity and filing window

Allow 24 hours for routings over water only, and three working days if the flight crosses the Indian landmass. Requests cannot be submitted more than ten working days before the flight. Permits are valid for 48 hours after the scheduled time, and a foreign-registered aircraft may stay in India for at most 14 consecutive days.

03The 2026 three-aircraft limit

Since 19 August 2026, each non-scheduled or private permit request can name at most three aircraft registrations: one primary and two alternates. Splitting a fleet across several requests is not allowed. Changes of aircraft are only considered in exceptional circumstances, although they are often approved within hours. Pick the alternates carefully when you request the permit.

04Pakistan airspace and routing

Since April 2025, Pakistan has closed its airspace to Indian-registered and Indian-operated aircraft, and India has closed its airspace to Pakistani aircraft. Both bans have been extended roughly monthly; the latest extension we found runs to 24 November 2026. Routings between India and Europe or Central Asia have to account for this.

05How we handle Indian permits

Send us the aircraft, routing and schedule. Our OCC checks the current Indian requirements for your flight type, prepares the request, files it and follows it up until the permit number is issued. We then pass it to the crew and the flight plan, and revise it if the schedule moves.

We arrange the permits for the rest of the routing in the same trip file, with overflight permits for the countries you cross and landing permits at your destination.