With the escalating tensions in the Middle East, where airspaces were opening and closing as the threat assessment changed, with Qatar Airspace closed and UAE closing and re-opening, it seems to have become a game of chess to operate commercial flights yesterday. Air India took some steps to protect its assets and people and passengers from getting caught up in the crossfire.

Air India halted overflying over the Middle East for 24 hours

Air India has a large dependence on the Middle East Airspace, not just because flights are operated by the airline into the Middle East: including to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and other geographies. But they also operate flights to Europe and North America, which routinely cross the Middle East.

Air India, in an email sent out their pilots at 11 PM IST (reviewed by LiveFromALounge.com), stated that

In view of the evolving scenario over the Gulf airspace, Air India has decided to cancel all flights flying over this region for the next 24 hours.

Now, here is the thing, if the Middle – East overflying is not allowed, Pakistan is not allowed and so on, and Air India does not overfly Yemen and Somalia airspace on its own, then it won’t be able to operate an efficient operation to the US. This means, that not only will the Middle-East operations be impacted, their US and Europe operations were also affected. For instance, Air India’s Chicago – Delhi (AI126), has been cancelled for 23 June 2025.

Even for the UK and European operations, flight will be significantly longer than 8-10 hours because of the airspace closures. Some flights have been cancelled as a consequence.

Air India is now resurrection operations

Air India is now planning to resume flights as of June 25, 2025, which is exactly 25 hours after they put a stop on their Middle East overflying. The airline intends to resume their Middle East flights as of June 25, and “East Coast of the US and Canada “at the earliest opportunity.” The earliest opportunity bit is understandable because their planes are all over at the moment, and they need to regroup them back at their Indian bases to establish Schedule Integrity.

• Amman: 1 Boeing 787-8
• Abu Dhabi: 1 Boeing 787-8 (in Maintenance)
• Copenhagen: 1 Boeing 787-8
• Delhi : 12 Boeing 787-8; 4 Boeing 787-9
• Mumbai: 1 Boeing 787-8; 1 Boeing 787-8 (in Maintenance)
• Frankfurt: 2 Boeing 787-9
• London Gatwick: 2 Boeing 787-8
• London Heathrow: 1 Boeing 787-8; 1 Boeing 787-9
• Paris: 1 Boeing 787-8
• Seoul: 1 Boeing 787-8 (inbound)
• Sydney: 1 Boeing 787-8 (inbound)
• Washington DC: 1 Boeing 787-8
• Zurich: 2 Boeing 787-8

The Boeing 777s, are similarly, spread out at their US bases and in India, and perhaps in Vienna/Copenhagen as well if they stopped for fuel there.

Here is what they said in their statement:

As airspaces gradually reopen in certain parts of the Middle East, Air India will progressively resume flights to the region starting today, with most operations to and from the Middle East resuming from 25 June. Flights to and from Europe, previously cancelled, are also being progressively reinstated from today, while services to and from the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada will resume at the earliest opportunity. Some flights may experience delays or cancellations due to consequential impacts and extended re-routings/flight times, but we are committed to minimising disruptions and restoring our schedule integrity. Air India will continue to avoid airspaces assessed as unsafe at any given time. We will keep passengers informed of any updates and sincerely appreciate their understanding. The safety and security of our passengers, staff, and aircraft remain our top priority.

– Air India Spokesperson

Air India Express also resuming flights to the Middle East

Air India’s no-frills subsidiary, Air India Express is also resuming flights to the Middle East. The airline will reopen flight operations as of June 24, 2025. The statement from the airline states

Air India Express is progressively resuming its operations to the Middle East from today, 24th June, as airspaces in the region reopen. Our first flight to the region today will be on the Delhi–Muscat route, followed by services on the Mumbai–Muscat, Kozhikode–Muscat, Kozhikode–Riyadh, and Jaipur–Jeddah routes.

Air India Express flights to and from key cities in the UAE — including Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain, and Ras Al Khaimah — as well as other cities in the Middle East, are scheduled from tomorrow.

– An Air India Express Spokesperson

Bottomline

Air India decided to not operate into the Gulf/Middle East region for 24 hours (starting 11 PM IST on 23 June 2025), because of the massive buildup of tensions there. Now that things have hopefully calmed down, the airline will resume the Middle Eastern operations as of June 25, 2025 0001 hours, and their US East Coast and Europe operations. Air India Express will resume operations to the Middle East as of June 24, 2025 itself.

What do you make of the resumption of services by Air India and Air India Express? 

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