Air India has announced a temporary reduction in wide-body international flights, with services suspended on three overseas routes and curtailed on sixteen others. The move follows the airline’s ongoing efforts to stabilise operations after the tragic air crash in Ahmedabad on 12 June, which claimed over 240 lives.
The airline, owned by the Tata Group, said the decision was made to restore schedule reliability and minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers.
“These reductions will be effective from 21 June 2025, and last until at least 15 July 2025,” the carrier said in a statement on Thursday.
Flights on the Delhi-Nairobi, Amritsar-London (Gatwick) and Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick) routes will be suspended for the duration. While Delhi-Nairobi operates four times weekly, the two London-linked routes each run thrice a week.
In addition to the suspended routes, flight frequencies have been reduced on 16 international connections spanning North America, Europe, Australia and the Far East. These include prominent services to Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC, and key European destinations such as London Heathrow, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, Vienna and Amsterdam.
The carrier also confirmed reduced services on Delhi-Melbourne, Delhi-Sydney, Delhi-Tokyo Haneda and Delhi-Seoul (Incheon) routes.
“The reductions arise from the decision to voluntarily undertake enhanced pre-flight safety checks, as well as accommodate additional flight durations arising from airspace closures in the Middle East,” the airline added.
Also read: Naidu chairs high level MoCA meet, reviews airline safety
Earlier in the day, Air India’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Campbell Wilson addressed passengers via a statement.
“As a confidence-building measure, the airline has elected to continue enhanced pre-flight safety checks on its Boeing 787 fleet and, as an added measure, its Boeing 777 aircraft for the time being,” Wilson noted.
“Given the time these additional checks will consume and the potential impact on schedules, Air India has decided to reduce its international wide-body flights by around 15 per cent starting 20 June, through to at least mid-July,” he said.
The airline said it is “proactively contacting affected passengers” and offering them options such as rescheduling without charge, full refunds, or accommodation on alternative flights, depending on preference.
“Regrettably, the time required to perform these enhanced safety checks, along with the application of extra caution, external factors like airspace closures in Iran and the Middle East as well as night-time restrictions at some international airports, along with normal airline technical issues, has led to a higher-than-usual number of cancellations on our long-haul network in the past few days,” Wilson added.
“This reduction in services will also allow us to have more backup aircraft ready to handle any unexpected issues. We understand that this temporary reduction to our schedule may affect your travel plans, and we're deeply sorry for any inconvenience.”
The airline’s decision underscores the ripple effects of the fatal crash in Ahmedabad, which continues to cast a shadow over Air India’s operational framework and passenger sentiment.
Follow us
