Air India Reducing Flights To Oman, UAE, And Qatar Amid Plane And Crew Shortages: Report

From the last week of April to May end, the airline has cancelled one flight every week on both sides between Delhi and Muscat, Delhi and Dubai, and Delhi and Abu Dhabi

Air India is temporarily reducing the frequency of flights to Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar to manage the problem of crew and plane shortages. According to a report by MoneyControl, from the last week of April to May end, the airline has cancelled one flight every week on both sides between Delhi and Muscat, Delhi and Dubai, and Delhi and Abu Dhabi. 

"Air India and Air India Express are aligning their networks causing several Air India flights to be cancelled," an Air India official told MoneyControl. Another official said that the airline's decision to cut flights to the West Asian countries is part of the carrier's network restructuring to make the most of its fleet of planes.

"Air India will cut flights to the Middle East after Eid-ul-Fitr as traffic falls drastically after the Eid holidays in those countries, while domestic summer traffic in India will rise due to school vacations," he said adding that to benefit from Eid-ul-Fitr traffic, Air India has also temporarily increased the frequency of flights between India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in April. 

The first official also noted that some flights between India and West Asian nations would be impacted in the coming months as Air India and AIX Connect, formerly AirAsia India, align their networks.

For the past six months, Air India has struggled with a shortage of pilots and planes as it strives to grow under its new owners, the Tata Group, and extend its worldwide operations, the report noted. 

In March, Air India's MD and CEO Campbell Wilson said that the airline would reduce the frequency of flights to the US due to crew shortage.

“As of now, six weekly flights to the US ― three to Newark and three to San Francisco ― will be trimmed due to crew shortage for the coming two-three months,” Wilson had said.

After 1,500 employees chose the voluntary retirement programme (VRS) the airline offered in June 2022, the company has been experiencing a crew shortage, the report said. The airline began offering the first phase of the VRS to 4,500 eligible employees who were over 40 and had worked for the company continuously for 20 years. A second VRS was launched by the airline in March for about 2,100 qualified personnel. 

About 12,085 people worked for the airline at the time of its privatisation, of which 8,084 were regular employees. In order to address the need for Boeing 777 pilots, Air India is also in need of temporary international pilot hires, the report further added.