Air India’s will start to restore international network gradually from August 1, 2025

It has been over a month since the tragic crash of a Boeing 787 aircraft in Ahmedabad operated by Air India. While the “why” it happened will be revealed sooner rather than later, the Indian DGCA has ordered Air India to conduct precautionary inspections on the rest of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. The inspection had its consequences, with Air India witnessing flight cancellations for flights operated with the 787 aircraft. These cancellations occurred because each of these inspections takes time, and geopolitical issues also cause longer flight times when flying West from India, among other factors.

In the aftermath of this move, Air India announced that it will make a planned curtailment to its widebody schedule in the coming weeks.

Air India cut 15% of wide-body international flights for 4 weeks in June 2025

In a statement issued on June 18, 2025, Air India revealed that it will undergo planned cancellations for 15% of its widebody international flights over the next few weeks. These reductions took effect on June 21, 2025, and would remain in place until at least July 15, 2025. Details of the flights affected were as follows.

1. Routes suspended until July 15, 2025:
   • Delhi-Nairobi (AI961/962) – 4x weekly flights (Suspended until June 30, 2025)
   • Amritsar-London (Gatwick) (AI169/170) – 3x weekly flights
   • Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick) (AI145/146) – 3x weekly flights
2. Routes with reduced frequency until July 15, 2025:
   • North America
     1. Delhi-Toronto: Reduced from 13x weekly to 7x weekly
     2. Delhi-Vancouver: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly
     3. Delhi-San Francisco: Reduced from 10x weekly to 7x weekly
     4. Delhi-Chicago: Reduced from 7x weekly to 3x weekly
     5. Delhi-Washington (Dulles): Reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly
   • Europe
     1. Delhi-London (Heathrow): Reduced from 24x weekly to 22x weekly
     2. Bengaluru-London (Heathrow): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly
     3. Amritsar-Birmingham and Delhi-Birmingham: Reduced from 3x weekly to 2x weekly
     4. Delhi-Paris: Reduced from 14x weekly to 12x weekly
     5. Delhi-Milan: Reduced from 7x weekly to 4x weekly
     6. Delhi-Copenhagen: Reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly
     7. Delhi-Vienna: Reduced from 4x weekly to 3x weekly
     8. Delhi-Amsterdam: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly
   • Australia
     1. Delhi – Melbourne and Delhi – Sydney: Reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly
   • Far-East
     1. Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly
     2. Delhi-Seoul (Incheon): Reduced from 5x weekly to 4x weekly (To operate 3x weekly from June 21 to July 5, and 4x weekly from July 6-15)

Air India has now started the process of unwinding these reductions, effective August 1, 2025.

Air India today announced the partial restoration of schedules that were reduced as part of its “Safety Pause”, implemented following the tragic accident of AI171 on June 12, 2025. The partial resumption will involve the restoration of some frequencies from August 1, compared to July, with a complete restoration planned for October 1, 2025.

Reinstatement of flights effective immediately

Air India today announced that the following flights will be restored effective immediately:

• Delhi – London (Heathrow): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all 24 weekly flights operating from July 16 onwards (as reported by LFAL earlier).
• Delhi – Zurich: Increased from 4x weekly to 5x weekly, effective August 1.
• Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all seven weekly flights operating from  August 1 onwards.
• Delhi-Seoul (Incheon): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all 5x weekly flights reinstated from September 1 onwards.

Routes with continued disruption through September 30, 2025

Air India also announced that the following flights will not be fully restored through September 30, 2025.

Europe

• Bengaluru – London (Heathrow): Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly; will further reduce to 4x weekly, effective August 1, 2025 (to accommodate Ahmedabad – London Heathrow, as already reported)
• Amritsar – Birmingham: Service frequency reduced from 3x weekly to 2x weekly until August 31; to resume 3x weekly, effective September 1.
• Delhi – Birmingham: Remains reduced from 3x weekly to 2x weekly.
• Delhi – Paris: Reduced from 12x weekly to 7x weekly, effective August 1, 2025.
• Delhi-Milan: Reduced from 4x weekly to 3x weekly, effective July 16, 2025.
• Delhi-Copenhagen: Remains reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly.
• Delhi-Vienna: Remains reduced from 4x weekly to 3x weekly.
• Delhi-Amsterdam: Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly; to resume 7x weekly, effective August 1.

North America

• Delhi – Washington (Dulles): Remains reduced from 5x weekly to 3x weekly.
• Delhi – Chicago: Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 3x weekly (to operate 4x weekly in August)
• Delhi – San Francisco: Remains reduced from 10x weekly to 7x weekly
• Delhi – Toronto: Remains reduced from 13x weekly to 7x weekly
• Delhi – Vancouver: Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 4x weekly
• Delhi – New York (JFK): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly, effective July 16, 2025
• Mumbai – New York (JFK): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly, effective August 1, 2025
• Delhi – Newark: Reduced from 5x weekly to 4x weekly, effective July 16, 2025

Australia

• Delhi – Melbourne: Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly.
• Delhi – Sydney: Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 5x weekly

Africa

• Delhi – Nairobi: Reinstated services, operating 3x weekly until August 31; to be suspended during September 2025.

Apart from all of this, the following flights will continue to be suspended through September 30, 2025:

• Amritsar-London (Gatwick) (AI169/170)
• Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick) (AI145/146)
• Bengaluru-Singapore (AI2392/2393)
• Pune-Singapore (AI2111/2110)

Much of Air India’s 787 and 777 fleet is dedicated to flying around the US and Europe, apart from Australia and long-haul stations in Asia. As European summers arrive, this is the time when airline customers utilise the carrier for vacations or VFR travel. So, by cancelling their flights, Air India was not just losing revenue. Suppose Air India rebooks these passengers on other carriers, which is not clear from their statement, the airline will also incur additional costs.

It is clear that in this readjustment, the airline is trying to bring back as much capacity online as quickly as possible. There is one airframe short for them due to the AI171 incident, and another is scheduled to head out for nose-to-tail refurbishment this month, apart from the already cannibalised equipment lying in Nagpur.

Bottomline

Air India will resume bringing back capacity to its international flight schedule after implementing cutbacks in June 2025. Some flights will receive more preference over others, but the intention is to restore the entire schedule by September 2025.

What do you think of Air India restoring its widebody capacity?

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