Air India will cancel around 400 international flights per month between June and August, cutting or suspending services across North America, Europe, Australia and Southeast Asia as elevated jet fuel prices due to the West Asia conflict and airspace restrictions squeeze the commercial viability of long-haul operations.
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The announcement comes days after the Federation of Indian Airlines—representing Air India, IndiGo and SpiceJet—wrote to the government on April 26 warning that the industry was under “extreme stress” and on the “verge of stopping operations” over rising aviation turbine fuel costs.
Air India said it would assist affected passengers with rebooking on alternative flights, free date changes or full refunds.
Major cuts are to flights to North American cities. Delhi-Chicago flights have been suspended. Delhi-San Francisco has been cut from 10 weekly flights to seven until the end of August. Delhi-Toronto has been halved from 10 to five weekly flights until July, returning to daily service in August. Delhi-Vancouver has been reduced from seven to five weekly flights.
Mumbai-Newark increases from three weekly flights to daily service. Delhi-JFK remains at seven weekly flights. Delhi-Newark and Mumbai-JFK have been suspended.
For European destinations, Delhi-Paris has been halved from 14 weekly flights to seven. Delhi-Copenhagen, Delhi-Vienna, Delhi-Zurich and Delhi-Rome have each been cut by one weekly flight, from four to three. Delhi-Milan has been reduced from five to four weekly flights.
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Delhi-Melbourne and Delhi-Sydney have each been cut from daily service to four flights per week.
Similarly, Delhi-Shanghai, Chennai-Singapore, Mumbai-Dhaka and Delhi-Malé have been suspended until the end of August.
Delhi-Singapore has been nearly halved from 24 to 14 weekly flights.
Mumbai-Singapore has been cut from 14 to seven. Delhi-Bangkok falls from 28 to 21 weekly flights and Mumbai-Bangkok from 13 to seven, both starting July. Delhi-Kuala Lumpur has been halved from 10 to five weekly flights. Delhi-Ho Chi Minh City drops from seven to four in July and August. Delhi-Hanoi drops from five to four in July and August.
Air India said it was working with regulators and airport authorities to restore full capacity when conditions permit, but warned of further adjustments if the operating environment does not improve.
