Why has Air India cut international flight operations?
The story so far:
Last week, Air India announced sweeping international schedule cuts between June and August, including a nearly 40% reduction in North America operations and significant cuts across SAARC and Southeast Asia.
Which international routes have been affected?
According to airline sources, a total of 145 weekly flights across North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, SAARC, and the Far East have been removed, resulting in an overall 27% reduction in international flight operations.
In North America, Air India’s most critical international market, weekly flights will be reduced from 51 to 33, which is a 39% decline. Services on routes such as Delhi-Chicago, Delhi-Newark and Mumbai-New York are being temporarily suspended, although the airline has added four extra Mumbai-Newark flights, taking that route to seven weekly services.
In Europe, schedule changes have been made on routes to Paris, Copenhagen, Milan, Vienna, Zurich, and Rome where altogether 34% of flights have been withdrawn. But services to London, Manchester, and Amsterdam remain unaffected.
The impact of the war in West Asia has extended well beyond westbound routes, with services to Southeast Asia, SAARC, and the Far East seeing the sharpest reductions. About 57% of flights to places including Kathmandu, Dhaka, Colombo, Bangkok, Shanghai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Ho Chi Minh City have been withdrawn. Services to Singapore have also been cut considerably, with 21 weekly flights connecting Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai to the country being withdrawn.
Further east, Delhi-Melbourne and Delhi-Sydney flights have reduced from seven to four flights per week.
What are the reasons for these cuts?
The reductions in flight capacity are a direct fallout of the West Asia conflict, which has forced airlines operating between Asia and Europe to avoid the conflict-hit airspace for safety reasons. As a result, Air India has been forced to adopt longer flight paths, increasing travel times to North America by nearly five to six hours. The revised routes now include refuelling stops in Vienna and Copenhagen.
For Indian carriers, the disruption has been compounded by Pakistan’s ban on the use of its airspace by Indian airlines since Operation Sindoor in April 2025. This puts them at a clear disadvantage compared to European peers such as Lufthansa.
Have other airlines been affected?
The sharp reduction in international flights is not limited to Air India alone. IndiGo saw a 21% reduction in its international flights in April, while carriers such as SpiceJet, Akasa Air, and Air India Express recorded cuts of more than 50%, albeit on a much smaller international network base. However, Air India has borne the biggest brunt of the disruption as it remains the only Indian carrier operating flights to North America and dominates Indian operations across several European destinations, where IndiGo is still a relatively new entrant.
By April, jet fuel prices had already risen by 130% amid escalating tensions in the Gulf, creating another major challenge for airlines, where fuel accounts for nearly 40% of operating costs. And while airlines have imposed fuel surcharges and raised airfares to offset rising costs, they are increasingly concerned about the point at which higher ticket prices could begin to deter passengers from travelling.
The network rationalisation is therefore an attempt by the Air India Group to stem mounting losses as operational pressures intensify. Air India posted a loss of ₹26,700 crore in FY2025-26 amid multiple headwinds, including the Pakistan airspace ban and travellers avoiding the airline in the aftermath of the crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 last year.
What are the global trends?
The regional conflict has hit the Gulf carriers the worst, with the International Air Transport Association reporting a 61% decline in international passenger traffic carried by them in March. Beyond the Gulf, the Lufthansa Group cancelled 20,000 short-haul flights operated by its subsidiary, Lufthansa CityLine, until October to save jet fuel while also moving to consolidate operations and improve the efficiency of its long-haul connections.
Qantas has announced a 5% reduction in domestic capacity and a 2% cut in international flights in response to soaring jet fuel prices. While it has added capacity on select Europe routes, it has also scaled back elsewhere, including withdrawing its Bengaluru-Sydney service.
Published – May 17, 2026 03:01 am IST
