International flight reductions will be effective from June 21, and last until at least July 15
A week after its flight AI171 crashed moments after take-off from Ahmedabad, killing 241 passengers and crew on board and at least 29 persons on the ground, Air India has announced a series of service suspensions and curtailments, primarily to carry out essential maintenance of its aircraft, which has been mandated by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the aviation regulator in India.
In a social media post, Air India says that the decision has been taken to voluntarily undertake enhanced pre-flight safety checks and to accommodate longer flight durations resulting from ongoing airspace closures in the Middle East.
The statement adds that that these reductions will be effective from June 21, and last until at least July 15. The airline has suspended three international flights. These include Delhi-Nairobi-Delhi (AI961/962), which operate as four times weekly flights and which have been suspended until June 30, while Amritsar-London (Gatwick)-Amritsar (AI169/170), operating as thrice weekly flights and Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick)-Goa (AI145/146), which is also a thrice weekly flight, which have both been suspended until July 15.
In addition to these suspensions, the airline has curtailed several services to North America and Europe. The reductions will apply until July 15, says the airline.
In Canada, Air India’s Delhi-Toronto-Delhi services have been reduced from 13 weekly flights to seven, while Delhi-Vancouver-Delhi flights have been cut from seven weekly flights to five. In the United States, Delhi-San Francisco-Delhi sector has seen its frequencies reduced from 10 weekly flights to seven, Delhi-Chicago-Delhi curtailed from seven weekly flights to three and Delhi-Washington (Dulles)-Delhi cut from five weekly to three. All of these routes are serviced by Boeing 777 aircraft.
Air India’s operations in Europe have taken the brunt of the service cuts as all of these sectors are serviced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the aircraft involved in the crash.
Accordingly, the popular Delhi-London (Heathrow)-Delhi flights have been cut from 24 weekly flights to 22 weekly, while Bengaluru-London (Heathrow)-Bengaluru curtailed from seven weekly flights to six. Amritsar-Birmingham-Amritsar and Delhi-Birmingham-Delhi have both been reduced from thrice weekly to twice weekly each and Delhi-Paris-Delhi flights cut from 14 weekly to 12 weekly services.
Staying in Europe, Delhi-Milan-Delhi operations reduced from seven weekly to four, while Delhi-Copenhagen-Delhi has seen its services reduced from five weekly flights to thrice weekly, Delhi-Vienna-Delhi cut from four times weekly to thrice weekly and Delhi-Amsterdam-Delhi cut from seven weekly to five weekly.
In Australia, both the routes, Delhi-Melbourne-Delhi and Delhi-Sydney-Delhi, have been reduced from seven weekly to five weekly flights and in the Far East while Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda)-Delhi flight has been curtailed from seven weekly to six times weekly, the Delhi-Seoul (Incheon)-Delhi flight will operate thrice weekly from June 21 to July 5, and four times weekly from July 6 to July 15.
According to the statement, the revised schedule being updated on the airline’s official website and mobile app.
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