Air India to cut wide-body international flights by 15% till mid-July amid disruptions due to safety inspections, airspace closures | Business News

“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 wide-body aircraft by 15% for the next few weeks,” the airline said.

The flight schedule curtailment is unlikely to impact much of the airline’s short-haul international operations as most of those flights are operated using narrow-body jets and the regions of operation do not have any major airspace or night flying restrictions.

Air India apologised to its passengers affected due to the schedule curtailment, adding that it will inform them in advance and make best efforts to accommodate them on alternate flights. They will also be offered a choice to reschedule their travel without any cost or take full refund.

“The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devastating 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 re-establish the confidence of our passengers and all stakeholders in our services, at the earliest,” Air India said.

Following last Thursday’s tragic crash of an Air India Boeing 787, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had directed the airline to carry out additional maintenance inspections on all 33 of its 787s. The ill-fated aircraft was operating a flight between Ahmedabad and London Gatwick and had 242 people on board. All but one of those on board perished in the crash. There were several casualties on the ground as well.

Air India said Wednesday that inspections have now been completed on 26 of its Boeing 787 planes and they have been cleared for service. On Tuesday, the DGCA had announced that no major safety concerns were found in the recent surveillance conducted on Air India’s Boeing 787 aircraft, and the planes and associated maintenance systems were found to be compliant with existing safety standards.

“…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… to ensure the safety of our passengers, our crew and our aircraft, which remains our highest priority,” the airline said Wednesday.