Private sector airline Air India, part of the Tata group, on Tuesday announced the partial restoration of certain schedules that it had reduced earlier as part of its “safety pause” following the tragic accident of AI171 last month. The airline said that the pause enabled it to perform additional precautionary checks on its Boeing 787 aircraft as well as “accommodating longer flying times arising from airspace closures over Pakistan and the Middle East”.
Noting that the schedule reductions taken as part of the safety pause were implemented until July 31, the airline said that the restoration to full operations is being phased with some services, initially planned to operate between August 1 and September 30, to be removed from the schedule.
It said that the partial resumption will see the restoration of some frequencies from August 1, relative to July, with a full restoration planned from October 1.
Air India international flight schedule update
Air India said that it will operate 3x weekly flights between Ahmedabad and London (Heathrow) from August 1 to September 30, replacing its existing 5x weekly flights between Ahmedabad and London (Gatwick).
Air India detailed the reinstatement of flights or increased frequencies as follows:
Europe
- Delhi-London (Heathrow): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all 24x weekly flights operating from July 16
- Delhi-Zurich: Increased from 4x weekly to 5x weekly, effective August 1
Far-East
- Delhi-Tokyo (Haneda): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all 7x weekly flights operating from August 1
- Delhi-Seoul (Incheon): Reinstated two weekly flights previously curtailed, with all 5x weekly flights reinstated from September 1
It also announced continued reductions or changed frequencies for the following flights until September 30:
Europe
- Bengaluru-London (Heathrow): Remains reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly; will further reduce to 4x weekly, effective August 1
- Amritsar-Birmingham: Remains reduced from 3x weekly to 2x weekly until August 31; to operate 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
- Delhi-Milan: Reduced from 4x weekly to 3x weekly, effective July 16
- 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
- Mumbai-New York (JFK): Reduced from 7x weekly to 6x weekly, effective August 1
- Delhi-New York (Newark Liberty): Reduced from 5x weekly to 4x weekly, effective July 16
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 31 August; to be suspended from September 1 to September 30
The airline also said it will continue the suspension of the following routes till September 30:
- Amritsar-London (Gatwick) (AI169/170): 3x weekly flights
- Goa (Mopa)-London (Gatwick) (AI145/146): 3x weekly flights
- Bengaluru-Singapore (AI2392/2393): 7x weekly flights
- Pune-Singapore (AI2111/2110): 5x weekly flights
Air India is “proactively contacting affected passengers to offer re-booking on alternative flights or a full refund, as per their preference. Air India apologises for the inconvenience,” it said.
It also said that with the partial restoration, it will operate more than 525 international flights per week on 63 short, long and ultra long-haul routes.
