It is a week since the tragic crash of a Boeing 787 aircraft in Ahmedabad operated by Air India. While the “why” it happened will come out sooner than later, the Indian DGCA has ordered Air India to carry out precautionary inspection on the rest of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet. India and Japan are the only two countries which have ordered a fleet inspection, so far.
The inspection has had its consequences, with Air India seeing a lot of flight cancellations for flights operated with the 787 aircraft, which have happened because each of these inspections take time, and then there are geopolitical issues which are causing longer flight times when flying West from India and so on.
In the aftermath of this move, Air India announced that it will make planned curtailment to its widebody schedule in the coming weeks.
Air India’s Boeing 787-8
Air India decides to cut 15% of wide body international flights for 4 weeks
In a late night statement issued on June 18, 2025, Air India revealed that it will undergo planned cancellation for 15% of its widebody, international flights over the coming weeks. The scheduled cancellations will be notified between June 19-20, 2025, and will be valid for travel through mid-July 2025.
Air India said,
Due to the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, night curfew in the airspaces of many countries in Europe and East Asia, the ongoing enhanced safety inspections, and also the necessary cautious approach being taken by the engineering staff and Air India pilots, there have been certain disruptions in our international operations over the last 6 days leading to a total of 83 cancellations.
Given the compounding circumstances that Air India is facing, to ensure stability of our operations, better efficiency and to minimise inconvenience to passengers, Air India has decided to reduce its international services on widebody aircraft by 15% for the next few weeks. The cuts will be implemented between now and 20 June and will continue thereafter until at least mid-July. This effectively adds to our reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions.
Air India will inspect the 777 fleet as well
Air India has mentioned that the mandated inspection on 26 of the 33 Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft has been completed, and it is reassuring that they have been cleared, as it gives them comfort in terms of the “safety measures and procedures” that the airline follows. I believe the remaining checks will take a while, because at least 4 aircraft are in the shop for heavy checks, so any such inspection will only happen before they return to service.
Air India’s Boeing 777
Air India has determined that it will also voluntarily make an inspection of its Boeing 777 fleet, even though that has not been asked of it by the DGCA or any other authority. Here is what they said,
The investigating authorities are continuing their efforts to find out the reasons for the accident. The DGCA had mandated ‘Enhanced Safety Inspection’ across Air India’s Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet. Out of total 33 aircraft, inspections have now been completed on 26 and these have been cleared for service, while inspection of the remainder will be complete in the coming days. The fact that 26 aircraft have been cleared gives reassurance in the safety measures and procedures that we follow.
As a matter of added precaution, Air India will also undertake enhanced safety checks on its Boeing 777 fleet and, going forward, we will continue to cooperate with the authorities, viz AAIB, DGCA, MoCA to ensure the safety of our passengers, our crew and our aircraft, which remains our highest priority
Air India seeks the support of the customers
In its statement, Air India said,
Air India apologises to the passengers affected due to these curtailments, and will inform them in advance and make its best efforts to accommodate them on alternate flights. Passengers will also be offered a choice to reschedule their travel without any cost or to be given full refund, as per their choice. The revised schedule of our international services effective from 20 June, 2025 will be shared shortly.
It further added,
The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devasting event which we are still working through and an unusual combination of external events. It is done to restore operational stability, and to minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers. With the continued support of our passengers, the regulatory authorities, Ministry of Civil Aviation and India at large, we will come out stronger through this tragic incident and reestablish the confidence of our passengers and all stakeholders in our services, at the earliest.
This is an expensive but important move
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. With European summers setting in, this is the time when customers of the airline use the carrier for vacations or VFR travel. So, by cancelling their flights, Air India is not just losing revenue. If Air India will rebook these passengers on other carriers (something not clear from their statement), the airline will incur additional cost as well.
But eventually, reliability is a large part of operating an airline, and this is a move in the right direction for the airline. Also the move to voluntarily inspect the 777 aircraft will also build confidence that some people might need to board their aircraft.
Bottomline
Air India will cancel approximately 15% of its international, wide body flights, over the coming weeks, to bring back the schedule on track, and build in a buffer.
The airline claims that at the moment, there are various reasons causing delays in operating flights, which include the need to inspect wide body aircraft and the current conflict in the Middle East, and the night curfews which are implemented in various European airports.
What do you think of Air India curtailing widebody capacity?
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