Air India is reducing international services on widebody aircraft by 15%, citing operational disruptions and the ongoing safety inspection of its 787 fleet, following the fatal crash of Air India flight 171 last week.
The London bound flight crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, on June 12, 2025, claiming the lives of 241 passengers and crew along with 29 people on the ground.
The suspensions and reductions will be effective from June 21 until at least July 15.
The airline has suspended its four times weekly Delhi-Nairobi, three times weekly Amritsar-London, and three times weekly Goa-London route. The airline also reduced frequencies on 16 routes across various regions. The routes are all operated by the airline's 787 and 777 aircraft.
“The reductions arise from the decision to voluntary undertake enhanced pre-flight safety checks, as well as accommodate additional flight durations arising from airspace closures in the Middle East,” Air India said in a statement. “The objective is to restore schedule stability and minimising last-minute inconvenience to passengers.”
Air India said that investigating authorities are continuing efforts to find out the cause of the accident, after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) mandated ‘enhanced safety inspection’ across Air India’s 787-8/9 aircraft fleet last week.
From 33 Dreamliner jets, inspections have now been completed on 26, with these aircraft now cleared for service. Air India said on June 18, that the remaining seven will be completed in the “coming days”.
The airline added that it will also undertake enhanced safety checks on its 777 fleet, while continuing to cooperate with the authorities to ensure operational safety.
Air India also noted that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and "night curfews in many European and East Asian airspaces" as contributing factors behind flight cancellations, which have totalled 83 over the past six days.
These cuts will increase reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions, the airline stated.