Air India Issues Revised Flight Schedule As International Cuts Take Effect From June 21
Additional reductions will be implemented through June 20 and extend until at least mid-July, Air India said.
Air India released a revised international flight schedule effective June 21 to July 15, following its decision to temporarily reduce services on widebody aircraft, including Boeing 787s and 777s, by 15%. The move comes in the wake of the Ahmedabad plane crash amid safety inspections.
In a statement, the airline confirmed that 83 international flights using Boeing 787s had already been cancelled between June 12- the day of the crash- and June 18. Additional reductions will be implemented through June 20 and extend until at least mid-July. These cuts, Air India said, are aimed at 'ensuring stability of operations, improving efficiency, and minimising last-minute inconvenience to passengers."
The revised schedule includes full suspensions of select routes, including Delhi–Nairobi, Amritsar–London Gatwick and Goa (Mopa)–London Gatwick and reduced frequencies on several North American, European, Far Eastern, and Australian routes.
Air India said the decision to reduce capacity stems from multiple factors: ongoing enhanced safety inspections, a cautious approach by engineering staff and pilots, night airspace curfews in parts of Europe and East Asia and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
The airline acknowledged passenger inconvenience and said affected travellers are being proactively contacted and offered alternative flights, complimentary rescheduling, or full refunds.
'Passengers will also be offered a choice to reschedule their travel without any cost or to be given full refund, as per their choice," the airline stated.
Air India has also issued a travel advisory for passengers flying to or through the Middle East, citing ongoing airspace volatility. As the airline continues to navigate operational disruptions, it reiterated that safety remains its top priority and assured passengers that efforts are underway to restore full services as soon as feasible.
The revised schedule is being updated progressively on airindia.com, the mobile app and via the airline's contact centres.
'This effectively adds to our reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions," the airline added.
About the Author
Mallika Soni
When not reading, this ex-literature student can be found searching for an answer to the question, "What is the purpose of journalism in society?"
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
20 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Stocks cheer the art of Trump's trade deals after EU agreement
Global stocks rose and the euro firmed on Monday after a trade agreement between the United States and the EU lifted sentiment and provided clarity in a pivotal week headlined by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan policy meetings. ADVERTISEMENT The U.S. struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods - half the threatened rate, a week after agreeing to a trade deal with Japan that lowered tariffs on auto imports. Countries are scrambling to finalise trade deals ahead of the August 1 deadline, with talks between the U.S. and China set for Monday in Stockholm amid expectation of another 90-day extension to the truce between the top two economies. "A 15% tariff on European goods, forced purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment and zero tariff retaliation by Europe, that's not negotiation, that's the art of the deal," said Prashant Newnaha, senior Asia-Pacific rates strategist at TD Securities. "A big win for the U.S." S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq futures gained 0.5% while the euro firmed across the board, rising against the dollar, sterling and yen. European futures surged nearly 1%. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei slipped after touching a one-year high last week while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.27%, just shy of the almost four-year high it touched last week. ADVERTISEMENT While the baseline 15% tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal, it is better than the threatened 30% rate. The deal with the EU provides clarity to companies and averts a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade. ADVERTISEMENT "Putting it all together, what we've seen with Japan, with the EU, with the talks which are due to be held in Stockholm between the U.S. and China, it really does negate the risk of a prolonged trade war," said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG. "The importance of the August tariff deadline has significantly been diffused." ADVERTISEMENT The Australian dollar, often seen as a proxy for risk sentiment, was 0.12% higher at $0.65725 in early trading, hovering around the near eight-month peak scaled last week. In an action-packed week, investors will watch out for the monetary policy meetings from the Fed and the BOJ as well as the monthly U.S. employment report and earnings reports from megacap companies Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. ADVERTISEMENT While the Fed and the BOJ are expected to stand pat on rates, comments from the officials will be crucial for investors to gauge the interest rate path. The trade deal with Japan has opened the door for the BOJ to raise rates again this year. Meanwhile, the Fed is likely to be cautious on any rate cuts as officials seek more data to determine if tariffs are worsening inflation before they ease rates further. But tensions between the White House and the central bank over monetary policy have heightened, with Trump repeatedly denouncing Fed Chair Jerome Powell for not cutting rates. Two of the Fed Board's Trump appointees have articulated reasons for supporting a rate cut this month. ING economists expect December to be the likely starting point for rate cuts, but it "may be a 50 basis point cut, if the evidence on weaker jobs and GDP growth becomes more apparent as we anticipate." "This would be a similar playbook to the Federal Reserve's actions in 2024, where it waited until it was completely comfortable to commit to a lower interest rate environment," they said in a note. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
Hindustan Times
35 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
US and EU avert trade war with 15% tariff deal
The US struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods - half the threatened rate - and averting a bigger trade war between the two allies that account for almost a third of global trade. US President Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (L) following their meeting, in Turnberry south west Scotland on July 27, 2025.(AFP) US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal at Trump's luxury golf course in western Scotland after an hour-long meeting that pushed the hard-fought deal over the line, following months of negotiations. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump told reporters, lauding EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the United States and dramatically increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment. Trump said the deal, which tops a $550 billion deal signed with Japan last week, would expand ties between the trans-Atlantic powers after years of what he called unfair treatment of U.S. exporters. Also Read | Explained: Donald Trump's landmark $1.35 trillion trade deal with EU before tariff deadline Von der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, said the 15% tariff applied "across the board", later telling reporters it was "the best we could get." "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said. The agreement mirrors key parts of the framework accord reached by the U.S. with Japan, but like that deal, it leaves many questions open, including tariff rates on spirits, a highly charged topic for many on both sides of the Atlantic. The deal, which Trump said calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of U.S. energy in coming years and "hundreds of billions of dollars" of arms purchases, likely spells good news for a host of EU companies, including Airbus, Mercedes-Benz and Novo Nordisk, if all the details hold. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz welcomed the deal, saying it averted a trade conflict that would have hit Germany's export-driven economy and its large auto sector hard. German carmakers, VW, Mercedes and BMW were some of the hardest hit by the 27.5% U.S. tariff on car and parts imports now in place. The baseline 15% tariff will still be seen by many in Europe as too high, compared with Europe's initial hopes to secure a zero-for-zero tariff deal. Bernd Lange, the German Social Democrat who heads the European Parliament's trade committee, said the tariffs were imbalanced and the hefty EU investment earmarked for the U.S. would likely come at the bloc's own expense. Trump retains the ability to increase the tariffs in the future if European countries do not live up to their investment commitments, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters on Sunday evening. The euro rose around 0.2% against the dollar, sterling and yen within an hour of the deal's being announced. MIRROR OF JAPAN DEAL Carsten Nickel, deputy director of research at Teneo, said Sunday's accord was "merely a high-level, political agreement" that could not replace a carefully hammered out trade deal: "This, in turn, creates the risk of different interpretations along the way, as seen immediately after the conclusion of the U.S.-Japan deal." While the tariff applies to most goods, including semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, there are exceptions. The U.S. will keep in place a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum. Von der Leyen suggested the tariff could be replaced with a quota system; a senior administration official said EU leaders had asked that the two sides continue to talk about the issue. Von der Leyen said there would be no tariffs from either side on aircraft and aircraft parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. "We will keep working to add more products to this list," von der Leyen said, adding that spirits were still under discussion. A U.S. official said the tariff rate on commercial aircraft would remain at zero for now, and the parties would decide together what to do after a U.S. review is completed, adding there is a "reasonably good chance" they could agree to a lower tariff than 15%. No timing was given for when that probe would be completed. The deal will be sold as a triumph for Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old U.S. trade deficits, and has already reached similar framework accords with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has not hit its goal of "90 deals in 90 days." U.S. officials said the EU had agreed to lower non-tariff barriers for automobiles and some agricultural products, though EU officials suggested the details of those standards were still under discussion. "Remember, their economy is $20 trillion ... they are five times bigger than Japan," a senior U.S. official told reporters during a briefing. "So the opportunity of opening their market is enormous for our farmers, our fishermen, our ranchers, all our industrial products, all our businesses." Trump has periodically railed against the EU, saying it was "formed to screw the United States" on trade. He has fumed for years about the U.S. merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The EU points to the U.S. surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump has argued that his tariffs are bringing in "hundreds of billions of dollars" in revenues for the U.S. while dismissing warnings from economists about the risk of inflation. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30% tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of U.S. goods in the event a deal to avoid the tariffs could not be struck.
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Hindustan Times
Air India tells pilots to ensure adherence to rules in annual test
New Delhi: Air India has asked its pilots to ensure rules are followed during their mandatory annual test, officials told HT on Sunday. Air India tells pilots to ensure adherence to rules in annual test In an internal email to the pilots, seen by HT, the airline also informed them that it is upgrading its training and rostering software. The internal email, sent by the director training late night on Saturday, is a notice to all pilots stating that the airline is upgrading the CAE system. CAE, a Canadian simulator company, is a pilot training management platform used by airlines. The notice read, '..This step is being introduced as an additional mitigation measure, while our planning teams continue to monitor the process closely as well…' 'Pilots have been asked to double-check their assigned trainer for Annual Line Route check (ALC) against their previous ALC record,' one of the officials aware of the development said. ALC is a yearly flying test for pilots where a senior trainer flies with them during a regular flight to see how they perform. The test is done on an actual flight. A comment from Air India was awaited till the time of going to press. A second official aware of the matter however, said that the software upgrade triggered the email to the pilots. 'Civil Aviation Rules (CAR) mandate the pilots to perform these annual tests with different trainers every year. Since the software is being upgraded, automated safeguards may not be fully functional and so manual verification has been requested from the pilots.' 'This is not related to the recent notices,' he insisted. This is part of its strategy to ensure norms are followed during such planned training - non compliance have triggered slew of notices from the aviation safety regulator, another official said. To be sure, India's aviation regulator on Wednesday issued four show cause notices to Air India for multiple violations of operational procedures and regulations on training cabin crew and managing their duty hours. The government, in its first meeting with the senior management of Air India including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson received a detailed explanation of the airline's efforts towards maintaining safety, reviewed recent incidents, discussed fleet maintenance, and asked the airline to reassess its operations within a month. The move came amid heightened concerns over passenger safety and the operational standards being followed by both Air India and its low-cost subsidiary. 'The government, last week, ordered Air India to maintain the highest level of safety standards, after which it will review the airline's operations after a month,' another official said. These efforts are being made to ensure compliance and many more will follow. 'The airline is now taking more efforts,' he added.
