Air India’s Pune-bound flight from Delhi suffered a bird hit on Friday, June 20. While the aircraft landed safely, it forced the airline to cancel its return journey. The bird hit was detected after its touchdown in Pune, the airline said in a statement. The aircraft has been grounded and extensive checks are being carried out by the engineering team, Air India said.
“Flight AI2470 scheduled to operate from Pune to Delhi on June 20 has been cancelled due to a bird-hit which was detected after the incoming flight landed safely in Pune,” it said. The airline also said it is making all arrangements, including providing accommodation for the stranded passengers. Refunds on cancellation or complimentary rescheduling is also being offered to passengers who opt for it, the airline said, adding that alternative arrangements are being made to fly the passengers to Delhi.
Following the fatal flight of the Air India flying from Ahmedabad to London, carrying over 240 passengers, which crashed, the number of passengers has declined. Other factors like geopolitical tensions, also raised a reason for concern among travellers.
Reduced travellers
A report by ICICI Securities says the aviation ministry passenger travel data number indicates further decline in June. “As per daily data reported by MoCA, average daily passengers had seen a decline in May’25 following the geopolitical conflict. However, post-declaration of ceasefire, domestic air travel had returned to normalcy. Average daily passengers again declined post the unfortunate Air India accident on 12 Jun’25,” the ICICI Securities report noted. According to the report the average daily passengers in April this year was at 490K, however, a decline was witnessed in May 2025.
Air India suspends flights till July 15
Air India said on Thursday, June 19, that it will reduce flights on multiple international routes per week and temporarily suspend operations on three routes from June 21 to July 15, 2025. Nearly 15% reduction is set to be observed on several routes. ” voluntarily undertake enhanced pre-flight safety checks, as well as accommodate additional flight durations arising from airspace closures in the Middle East. The objective is to restore schedule stability and minimise last-minute inconvenience to passengers,” the statement said.