A day before Air India’s planned curtailment on international operations, the airline saw cancellations of eight routes, including four international routes. While the airline was facing consistent issues with timely operations of the Dreamliner fleet until Thursday, it now also struggles on the Airbus-operated routes.
The Free Press Journal had reported on Wednesday that Air India announced to reduce operations on its wide-body aircraft including Boeing 787-8 and 777 after it started facing aircraft shortage due to safety checks on Dreamliner aircraft mandated post the Ahmedabad plane crash, airspace restriction in Middle East and Europe as well as its voluntary checks on the Boeing 777 fleet. On Thursday, the airline had announced that it will temporarily suspend six international routes and reduce operations on 32 routes.
While the curtailments are supposed to be implemented from Saturday, the airline continued to face struggles in continuing seamless operations, internationally and domestically, even on Friday. The airline had to cancel eight routes on Friday, including four international routes, six of these were operated using Airbus aircraft. The airline cited enhanced maintenance and operational reasons behind these cancellations.
According to the information shared by Air India, it cancelled flight AI-906 from Dubai to Chennai, AI-2204, from Dubai to Hyderabad, AI-874 from Pune to Delhi, AI-456 from Ahmedabad to Delhi, AI-2872 from Hyderabad to Mumbai and AI-571 from Chennai to Mumbai, all of which were operated using Airbus 319, 320 or 321. The cancellations on Friday also included to and fro flights on Delhi-Melbourne route, which were operated using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline requested its passengers to check the status on their flights. “We regret the inconvenience caused to passengers. Our colleagues on ground are making alternative arrangements for them to fly to their respective destinations at the earliest. Full refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling has been offered to passengers. Due to the continuing enhanced checks on our aircraft, airspace restrictions and inclement weather, we anticipate some disruptions which will be duly communicated to passengers,” the airline said.
These severe disruptions have led to a huge uproar among travellers who had booked their journeys with Air India. Social media has been filled with posts from passengers sharing their concerns about the airline’s punctuality, safety and communication. One such user Apra Kuchhal shared on micro-blogging platform X that while the online ticketing agent Make My Trip messaged her to inform that her flight has been cancelled due to operational reasons, the airline’s customer support denied any such cancellation on call.
“Called Make My Trip, they have no clue about this message. As a customer stuck between two giants, what are we supposed to do? This is poor coordination, zero accountability, and high stress for travelers with confirmed booking. Need urgent clarity,” she wrote.
