Air India Begins Phased Return To Full Schedule As Safety Checks Ease Post AI171 Tragedy

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the airline confirmed that some flight frequencies will return beginning August 1, with a complete return to normal schedules planned by October 1, 2025.

Some routes will continue to operate at reduced frequency due to ongoing operational adjustments.

Source : PTI

Air India has announced a phased resumption of its international flight schedule following the “Safety Pause” imposed after the tragic crash of flight AI171 on June 12. The carrier said precautionary measures—undertaken to allow additional safety checks on its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet and to manage extended flight times due to airspace restrictions over Pakistan and the Middle East—will be scaled back from August.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the airline confirmed that some flight frequencies will return beginning August 1, with a complete return to normal schedules planned by October 1, 2025. From August to September, Air India will operate over 525 international flights per week across 63 routes, ranging from short-haul to ultra long-haul destinations.

New Routes and Key Service Reinstatements

As part of the network realignment, Air India will operate a new 3x weekly service between Ahmedabad and London Heathrow from August 1 to September 30. This replaces the current 5x weekly service between Ahmedabad and London Gatwick.

Air India today announced the partial restoration of schedules that were reduced pursuant to its “Safety Pause”, taken following the tragic accident of AI171 on 12th June. That Pause enabled Air India to perform additional precautionary checks on its Boeing 787 aircraft as well… pic.twitter.com/MqI475Xk98

— ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2025

Several previously curtailed services will also be reinstated. The Delhi–London (Heathrow) route will resume its full schedule of 24 weekly flights from July 16. Delhi–Tokyo (Haneda) will return to daily operations from August 1, while Delhi–Zurich will increase to 5x weekly and Delhi–Seoul (Incheon) will go back to 5x weekly flights from September 1.

Flights to Nairobi, reinstated temporarily, will continue operating 3x weekly until August 31, before being suspended for the month of September.

Flights to Remain Curtailed Until End-September

Some routes will continue to operate at reduced frequency due to ongoing operational adjustments. For instance, Delhi–Paris will run 7x weekly instead of 12x starting August, while Delhi–Milan will operate 3x weekly from July 16. Services to North America will remain scaled down: Delhi–Toronto and Delhi–Chicago are among the routes still running at less than half their pre-pause frequency.

Additionally, services between Delhi and cities like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Vienna, and Vancouver remain curtailed, though some will see partial recovery during August. Other suspended routes—such as Amritsar–London (Gatwick), Goa (Mopa)–London (Gatwick), Bengaluru–Singapore, and Pune–Singapore—will remain offline until at least September 30.

Air India said it is reaching out to affected passengers to offer alternative bookings or full refunds. “Air India apologises for the inconvenience,” the airline said, adding that it remains committed to maintaining safety and reliability as it works toward full network restoration.