Days after announcing a 15% reduction in its international widebody operations, Air India on Sunday said it would also curtail narrowbody services, both domestic and international, by about 5% until mid-July.
In a post on X, the airline wrote, “Following previous announcements of temporary reductions in Air India’s widebody international services, the airline today announced temporary cuts of less than 5% to its overall narrowbody network.”
The latest cuts involve the suspension of three routes and reduced frequencies on 19 others, as part of the airline’s efforts to maintain schedule reliability and minimise last-minute disruptions for passengers.
The suspended services include daily international flights between Bengaluru and Singapore, Pune and Singapore, as well as the domestic route between Mumbai and Bagdogra. Each of these routes were previously operated seven times a week. However, it will now remain suspended until at least July 15.
According to Air India, its narrowbody schedule will see reduced frequencies on major trunk and secondary routes. On the Delhi–Mumbai sector, flights will reduce from 176 to 165 per week, while Delhi–Hyderabad services will drop from 84 to 76. Other key changes from Delhi include a cut on the Delhi–Kolkata route from 70 to 63 weekly flights, and Delhi–Indore from 21 to 14.
Both the airports in Goa will see fewer services from Delhi. Flights to Dabolim will reduce from 14 to 7, and those to Mopa from 14 to 7 per week. Delhi–Lucknow will drop from 28 to 21, Delhi–Pune from 59 to 54, and Delhi–Coimbatore from 13 to 12.
Several high-density routes from Mumbai are also affected. Flights to Bengaluru will reduce from 91 to 84 per week, and to Hyderabad from 63 to 59. Mumbai–Kolkata will go down from 42 to 30 weekly, and Mumbai–Kochi from 40 to 34. Other reductions include Mumbai–Ahmedabad (41 to 37), Mumbai–Coimbatore (21 to 16), Mumbai–Goa Dabolim (34 to 29), and Mumbai–Varanasi (12 to 7).
Despite the temporary reductions, Air India will continue to operate nearly 600 daily narrowbody flights across 120 domestic and short-haul international routes. Passengers affected by the schedule changes are being contacted directly and are offered options to rebook, reschedule, or obtain a full refund.
The airline reaffirmed its commitment to restoring its full schedule as soon as feasible, while continuing to prioritise the safety of its passengers, crew, and aircraft.
Air India recently stated that it is conducting voluntary pre-flight checks beyond regulatory requirements, even as it contends with longer flight times due to ongoing airspace closures in parts of West Asia.
As an added safety measure, the airline will progressively begin to avoid certain airspace zones over the Persian Gulf in the coming days. This adjustment is expected to impact flights to several key destinations, including the UAE, Qatar, Oman, and Kuwait. Additionally, some long-haul services to and from Europe and North America may face extended durations due to the rerouting.
The airline also confirmed that it does not currently operate in the airspaces of Iran, Iraq, or Israel.