Air India To Hold Enhanced Safety Checks Of Widebody Boeing 777 Planes, Reducing International Ops By 15%
Air India will cut international wide-body flights by 15% until mid-July due to safety inspections and operational disruptions stemming from a recent incident in Ahmedabad.
Air India announced late Wednesday that it will reduce its international services operated by wide-body aircraft by 15 per cent until at least mid-July as the airline is undergoing safety inspections and operations disruptions following the fatal clash in Ahmedabad last week. The airline, in a statement, said that the move is aimed at stabilising operations and improving efficiency.
Air India to undertake enhanced safety checks of widebody Boeing 777 aircraft as matter of added precaution: Statement. pic.twitter.com/TcD28jO1FJ
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 18, 2025
“Given the compounding circumstances that Air India is facing… the cuts will be implemented between now and 20 June and will continue thereafter until at least mid-July,” the airline said.
“This effectively adds to our reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions,” it noted.
The airline has also cited multiple overlapping challenges, including the mandatory safety inspections, regional night airspace curfews, ongoing tension in the Middle East, and a cautious operation posture adopted by the engineering and the cockpit teams.
“This decision has been taken to ensure stability of our operations, improve efficiency, and minimise inconvenience to passengers,” the airline said in a statement on June 18, 2025.
Air India for the past six days has cancelled 83 international flights due to the compounding operations constraints.
According to the airline, the cuts will be implemented between now and 20 June and will continue thereafter until at least mid-July.
Over 270 people were killed on June 12 when a London-bound Air India plane – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – carrying 242 passengers and crew crashed into a medical college complex in Ahmedabad and crashed less than a minute after takeoff. Tata Sons and Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Wednesday apologised for the Air India plane crash. In an interview with Times Now, Chandrasekaran said that it is an extremely difficult situation where I have no words to express to console any of the families of those who died.
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