Air India to reduce international services operated by widebody aircraft by 15% post plane crash

New Delhi: Air India will reduce its international services by 15 per cent till at least mid-July owing to unavailability of wide-bodied aircraft due to an ongoing safety examination after the crash of its Dreamliner aircraft in Ahmedabad and the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.

In a late evening statement, the airline said it is also undertaking enhanced safety checks on its Boeing 777 fleet, besides its Boeing 787-8/9 (Dreamliners), “as a matter of added precaution”, leading to 83 cancellations in the past six days since June 12, the day of the crash of AI-171 with 242 people on board.

“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,” it said.

It said night curfew in the airspaces of many countries in Europe and East Asia owing to geo-political tensions in West Asia, and "ongoing enhanced safety inspections" as well as a "necessary cautious approach" being taken by the engineering staff and Air India pilots, have led to the 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 widebody aircraft by 15% for the next few weeks,” the statement said.

The cuts will be implemented “between now and 20 June and will continue thereafter until at least mid-July”, and this effectively adds to its reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions, it said.

The affected passengers will be informed in advance and efforts would be made to accommodate them on alternate flights. Passengers will also be offered a choice to reschedule their travel without any cost or to be given full refund, as per their choice. The revised schedule of its international services effective from June 20 will be announced soon.

Air India's Dreamliner fleet is currently undergoing an “enhanced safety inspection” by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and of the 33 Boeing 787-8/9, examinations of 26 have been completed and cleared for service. The remaining seven will be inspected in the coming days.

The airline said the clearance of 26 aircraft gives “reassurance” in the safety measures and procedures that, if followed, it said.

“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,” it said.