Air India Cuts International Flights Amid Mounting Operational Strain
- Air India is withdrawing nearly 100 additional weekly international flights, including Mumbai–Singapore and major US services, marking one of the airline’s largest international network pullbacks in recent years.
- Pakistan and Iran airspace closures have forced longer westbound routings, technical halts at Vienna and Rome, and significantly higher fuel burn and crew costs on ultra-long-haul operations.
- With losses exceeding ₹22,000 crore in FY2026, Air India has entered a phase of route rationalisation and austerity as rising fuel costs and airspace disruptions continue to strain international operations.
The crisis in Indian aviation has intensified as Air India announced it will cut approximately 100 flights a week through July 2026. This reduction comes on top of the massive industry disruption in March, when the regional conflict in West Asia triggered over 2,000 flight cancellations across the region, forcing carriers into costly reroutes and unsustainable fuel expenses.
Air India announced cuts to some of its flagship routes such as Mumbai to New York, Delhi to Newark, Delhi to Chicago, and even Mumbai to Singapore
Leading Aviation website Aeroroutes shared booking details from Star Alliance that featured Air India’s detailed cancellations, which are given below.
Aero routes announced that Air India is cancelling the following flights between 1st June and 30th August: Delhi–Newark; Mumbai–New York; Delhi–Chicago; Mumbai–Singapore; Delhi–Shanghai; Mumbai–Dhaka; Delhi–Malé; Chennai–Singapore. For the full list of cancellations and schedule modifications, please see – https://www.aeroroutes.com/eng/260512-aijun26int
The Mumbai-Singapore run was a route Air India operated uninterruptedly since 16 July 1954, when it launched the service. The route has, over the years, seen extensions to Fiji, Perth, Sydney, and was operated on the Lockheed Constellation, the Boeing 707, the Boeing 747-200 & 400 (briefly), the A-310, A-320 and the B-787. Air India will reduce the Delhi to Singapore operation to 4 x weekly; overall, Singapore operations are down from 24.
The flagship AI-101 (originally a Mumbai-based operation) began on 1 June 1960 and has continued unabated for 66 years, except for a month during 9-11 when Air India did not operate to New York.
The closure of Air Space over Pakistan due to the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, was the first blow to Air India’s west bound operations, followed by the Iran war, which rendered another 40% of the west bound corridors unusable for Air India.
These airspace closures have caused route diversions and technical halts to the existing Ultra Long-haul flights to the USA at Vienna and Rome, adding to operational, crew, and fuel costs, as well as additional fuel burn.
The closure of the Hormuz strait has caused Brent Crude to skyrocket and has impacted ATF prices for airlines, so Air India whose international operations hitherto accounted for more than firfty percent of its operations, have been badly affected.
This airspace closure had increased flight times to London by fifty per cent. A Delhi–London flight, which hitherto took 8.30 hours, now took almost 12 hours of flight time, which increased fuel burn and flying time by 50%, and the ATF spike had caused costs to surge by over 100% due to the hike in International ATF.
The Air India CEO Wilson Campbell last week announced a slew of measures to cut costs, withhold appraisals, and bring in austerity, promising that there would be no job losses. The aviation industry faces its toughest season since COVID broke 6 years ago, airlines will have to cut costs and rationalize routes and go into ultra survival mode.
On Sunday Prime Minister Modi advised Indian citizens to observe frugality and eschew international travel, reduction in gold purchases and to adopt work from home. Air India’s actions dovetail with self-preservation by reduction of loss-making routes to balance cash burn and also are in keeping with the Prime Minister’s diktats.
The Tata owned Air India had already announced that it had racked up losses exceeding Rs.22,000 crores ($2.3 -$2.4 billion) for the year ending March 31st 2026, this was significantly higher than the previous years consolidated loss of Rs ₹10,859 crore, due to various factors ranging from Operation Sindoor, the closure of Pakistan Airspace and the AI-171 tragedy last June.
At the time of going to press, Air India is yet to officially issue a release on the list of flights cancelled, as the same is being processed through various channels.
* Sanjay Lazar is an Aviation expert and CEO Avialaz consultants. He is @sjlazars on @x. Views and Opinions are purely personal.
Also Read: GIFT-IFSC’s Aircraft Leasing Promise: Real Progress, Real Gaps
