With the Middle East conflict ongoing and people from India unable to move freely to Europe (due to the Middle East being an important airspace for them to cross), a huge backlog is building of people unable to travel to the US and Europe. Air India is now offering new flights to clear some of the backlog and also make some money in the process.
Air India to offer flights to Europe and the US
India has a huge dependence on the Middle East due to its geographical proximity. The Middle East carriers view India as one of their important source markets, and they are still busy clearing their backlog and getting back on their feet. IndiGo’s long-haul resumption did not go as planned, and a couple of their flights were diverted due to airspace confusion.
In response to sustained high demand for reliable travel options amid the ongoing situation in West Asia, Air India has deployed additional capacity to five key gateways in Europe, as well as to New York (JFK)1 over the next few days, supported by additional services to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Between March 10-18, 2026, Air India will operate 78 additional flights on the following routes, thus boosting much-needed capacity when travel options for passengers remain constrained:
- Delhi-New York (JFK)1
- Delhi-London (Heathrow)
- Mumbai-London (Heathrow)
- Delhi-Frankfurt
- Delhi-Paris (CDG)
- Delhi-Amsterdam
- Delhi-Zurich
- Delhi-Malé
- Delhi-Colombo
Together, these flights add 17,660 seats on nine routes in both directions. The additional flights on the European routes will operate with B787-8 aircraft, and those to Malé and Colombo with A320neo aircraft. The flights to New York (JFK) are subject to the requisite regulatory approvals and would operate with Air India’s B777-300ER aircraft.
Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer, Air India, said:
Despite the odds, Air India continues to maintain its scheduled services to Europe and North America, sustaining connectivity to several international gateways using alternative routings that are assessed as safe for operations. We are confident that passengers in need to travel to destinations in these regions will appreciate the additional options and reliability with Air India.
Here is the schedule of additional flights. which are bookable on airindia.com and other channels.
Bottomline
Air India has launched special flights for the next eight days to European stations, as well as to New York JFK and Sri Lanka and Male, to clear out people who are held back in India or at the other end due to the Middle East crisis. These flights will operate between March 10 and 18, 2026, to start with, and are available for booking on airindia.com.
What do you think of this move by Air India?
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Good initiative, but as usual, AI seemingly doesn’t know how to schedule flights.
For example, DEL-AMS is blocked at 10h. Actual flying time right now is around 11h. And that’s just flying time. Then the delays carry on, and on.
This has been going on every since Pakistan airspace closed, and it’s ridiculous. They have a 3% OTP out of SFO. Especially if they want to be a hub carrier, they better become reliable even when there are challenges.