After curtailing wide-body flight schedule, Air India announces cuts in narrow-body network for ‘operational stability’

Seven-weekly flights on three routes — Bengaluru-Singapore, Pune-Singapore and Mumbai-Bagdogra — will be suspended till at least July 15.

Flights on various other routes, including some key trunk metro-metro routes like Delhi-Bengaluru and Delhi-Mumbai, will be reduced.

On June 18, the airline had announced that it would cut its wide-body international schedule by 15 per cent till at least mid-July due to a combination of factors–enhanced safety inspections following the deadly crash of one of its Boeing 787-8 aircraft in June 12, and airspace restrictions in West Asia and night curfew at various European and East Asian airports.

The curtailment of the wide-body schedule is likely to have had a network-wide impact on passenger flows, including on its narrow-body network, considering Air India is a network carrier with a sizable number of connecting passengers. Additionally, enhanced safety checks and higher turnaround times, and longer durations on West Asian flights due to airspace closures have also tightened aircraft availability for operating the full schedule, sources indicated, adding that the schedule reduction would create some buffer.

Meanwhile, Air India has decided to exercise extra caution for flights that usually transit West Asia as Israel-Iran conflict escalated significantly over the weekend with the US striking nuclear facilities in Iran.

“Amid escalating tensions in the Gulf region, Air India group confirms that our flights currently do not operate over the airspaces of Iran, Iraq and Israel. As a proactive measure, we will be progressively avoiding the use of certain airspace over the Persian Gulf in the coming days, opting instead for alternative paths for flights to destinations including the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. This adjustment may lead to extended flight durations for these services, as well as for select flights to/from Europe and North America,” an Air India spokesperson said.

The airline is in “continuous consultation” with external security advisors and is vigilantly monitoring the evolving situation, ready to implement additional measures, if required, the spokesperson added.

Air India apologised to passengers affected by the narrow-body network curtailment.

“Air India apologises to the passengers affected by these curtailments and is proactively contacting affected
passengers to offer re-accommodation on alternative flights, complimentary rescheduling or full refunds as
per their preferences,” the airline said.

“The revised schedule is being progressively made available on our website, airindia.com, mobile app and
through our contact centre. We remain committed to restoring our full schedule as soon as practicable, while at all times prioritising the safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft,” the airline added.