Air India Resumes Global Routes After June Crash

Air India is gradually restoring its international network following a significant six-week schedule reduction in the wake of the fatal crash of Flight AI 171 in June. The airline had scaled back long-haul services to perform detailed inspections of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet and adapt to rerouted flight paths caused by regional airspace restrictions. Partial resumptions will begin in August, with full capacity expected by October.

Among the first changes, a new temporary route from Ahmedabad to London Heathrow will operate three times a week between August 1 and September 30, replacing the existing five-weekly flights to London Gatwick. The flagship New Delhi–London Heathrow route will increase from 22 to 24 weekly flights starting July 16, and further adjustments include a return to daily operations on New Delhi–Tokyo Haneda and New Delhi–Amsterdam from August 1. Other reinstated services include New Delhi–Zurich increasing to five times weekly and New Delhi–Seoul Incheon returning to full 5X-weekly service by September 1. Air India has also resumed flights to Nairobi, though they will be paused again for September.

However, several routes remain reduced. The New Delhi–Paris Charles de Gaulle route will drop to seven from 12 weekly flights starting August 1, while New Delhi–Milan will go from four to three weekly flights on July 16. Bengaluru–London Heathrow will operate four times weekly instead of six from August 1.

In North America, major long-haul cuts continue. Service to Toronto is halved to seven from 13 weekly flights. New Delhi–Chicago is reduced from daily to four flights per week, and New Delhi–San Francisco drops to seven from ten. New Delhi–Vancouver is now at four weekly flights, down from seven. Flights to New York’s JFK and Newark Liberty airports are also trimmed. JFK now has six weekly flights from New Delhi, down from daily, and Newark operates four times weekly, reduced from five. Mumbai–JFK drops to six weekly from daily beginning August 1. New Delhi–Washington Dulles remains at three weekly flights, down from five.

In the Asia-Pacific region, New Delhi–Melbourne and New Delhi–Sydney continue at five flights per week instead of daily. Services to Singapore from Bengaluru and Pune remain suspended.

These reductions followed the June 12 crash of Flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8, shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad. Preliminary findings by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau revealed a pilot inadvertently shut off fuel to both engines after liftoff, causing the aircraft to lose thrust and crash within seconds.

Based on current OAG Schedules Analyser data, Air India is operating about 232,000 international seats across 68 routes, down from 267,000 seats and 71 routes prior to the crash. The airline plans to fully restore its schedule over the coming months as it regains operational stability and completes safety checks on its fleet.

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