Air India Extends Flight Cuts Until August Before Partial Resumption
The partial resumption will see restoration of some frequencies from Aug. 1, with full restoration planned from Oct. 1, Air India said.
Air India has extended the flight cuts that were announced as part of the "safety pause" after the fatal plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12.
The erstwhile national carrier on Tuesday said there will be a partial restoration of schedules from Aug. 1, whereas the full restoration is planned from Oct. 1.
"That Pause enabled Air India to perform additional precautionary checks on its Boeing 787 aircraft as well as accommodating longer flying times arising from airspace closures over Pakistan and the Middle East," the airline said in its statement on Tuesday.
Among the key restorations is the resumption of three weekly flights between Ahmedabad and London (Heathrow), down from the previous five per week. Full service on the Delhi–London route will resume from July 16, bringing back all 24 weekly flights. Air India has also increased its Delhi–Zurich service from four to five flights weekly starting Aug. 1.
Flights between Delhi and Tokyo and Delhi and Seoul, both previously suspended, are set to return with two weekly services each. The Tokyo flights will resume on Aug. 1, while the Seoul route will restart on Sept. 1.
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Despite these resumptions, many international routes will continue to operate below pre-crash levels. Several European destinations, including Paris, Milan, Copenhagen, Vienna, Amsterdam, Birmingham and London (from Bengaluru and Amritsar), will see reduced frequencies.
In North America, major routes such as Delhi–Washington, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, and New York will also remain scaled back. While some minor increases are planned in August, full restoration has not yet been confirmed.
In addition, flights from Delhi to Melbourne and Sydney will continue to operate five times a week, and Delhi–Nairobi services, which have resumed at three times weekly, will be temporarily suspended again in September.
Routes such as Amritsar–London (Gatwick), Goa (Mopa)–London (Gatwick), Bengaluru–Singapore, and Pune–Singapore remain suspended until the end of September.
As some flights initially planned between Aug. 1 and Sept. 30 will now be removed from the schedule, Air India is contacting affected passengers to offer alternative flights or full refunds.
With these changes, Air India will operate over 525 international flights per week across 63 global routes.
