Air India To Suspend 6 International Routes, Reduce Frequency On 32 Others Due To Aircraft Shortage

Mumbai: A day after Air India announced to reduce its wide-body aircraft operations on international routes by 15%, it has announced to suspend six routes and reduce frequencies on 32 routes. This decision will affect connectivity between Delhi, Goa, Amritsar and Bengaluru to North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and the Far-East from June 21 to July 15.

On Wednesday, The Free Press Journal reported that Air India announced to reduce by 15% its international operations on wide-body fleet, including the Boeing 787 and 777 aircraft. This was announced following an acute shortage of aircraft, due to mandatory safety checks and airspace restrictions over Iran, which led to 83 cancellations in six days. While the civil aviation regulator has mandated safety checks on the Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft, the airline decided to carry out voluntary checks on its Boeing 777 aircraft fleet.

On Thursday, the airline announced that it will suspend six international routes from June 21 to July 15. This includes the AI-169 from Amritsar to London Gatwick and AI-170 from London Gatwick to Amritsar. AI-145 from Goa’s Mopa to London Gatwick and its return flight AI-146 has also been suspended. The flight no. AI-961 from Delhi to Nairobi and the returning flight AI-962 have been suspended until June 30. All these flights were operated three times a week.

The routes which will see reduced frequency to North America include flights between Delhi to Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington (Dulles). Some of these flights have been substantially reduced from 13 times a week to as low as seven times a week. The flights connecting Delhi, Amritsar and Bengaluru with Europe’s London Heathrow, Birmingham, Paris, Milan, Copenhagen and Vienna have also been reduced partially.

The flights from Delhi to Australia’s Melbourne and Sydney have been reduced from seven times a week to five times a week. Similarly, Delhi-Tokyo route has been reduced from seven times a week to six times and Delhi-Seoul from five times to four times a week. However, the Delhi-Seoul route will be reduced to three times a week from June 21 to July 5 and then will continue to serve four times a week till July 15.

“The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devasting event which we are still working through and an unusual combination of external events. It is done to restore operational stability, and to minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers. With the continued support of our passengers, the regulatory authorities, Ministry of Civil Aviation and India at large, we will come out stronger through this tragic incident and reestablish the confidence of our passengers and all stakeholders in our services, at the earliest,” the airline had said in a statement.

List of Curtailments Announced:

Routes suspended until 15 July 2025:

Delhi-Nairobi (A1961/962)- 4x weekly flights

Amritsar-London (Gatwick) (Al169/170)- 3x weekly flights

Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick) (A1145/146)- 3x weekly flights

Routes with reduced frequency until 15 July 2025:

North America

Delhi-Toronto: Reduced from 13x weekly to 7x weekly

Delhi-Vancouver: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly

Delhi-San Francisco: Reduced from 10x weekly to 7x weekly

Delhi-Chicago: Reduced from 7x weekly to 3x weekly

Delhi-Washington (Dulles): Reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly

Europe

Delhi-London (Heathrow): Reduced from 24x weekly to 22x weekly

Bengaluru-London (Heathrow): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly

Amritsar-Birmingham and Delhi Birmingham: Reduced from 3x weekly to 2x weekly

Delhi-Paris: Reduced from 14x weekly to 12x weekly

Delhi-Milan: Reduced from 7x weekly to 4x weekly

Delhi-Copenhagen: Reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly

Delhi-Vienna: Reduced from 4x weekly to 3x weekly

Delhi-Amsterdam: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly

Australia

Delhi-Melbourne and Delhi-Sydney: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly

Far-East

Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly

Delhi-Seoul (Incheon): Reduced from 5x weekly to 4x weekly