Air India to restart some flights after deadly crash
Air India will begin flying select international routes again from August, just weeks after a horrific crash killed 260 people in Ahmedabad.
The airline grounded several services following the tragic incident on 12 June, when flight AI171 – a Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London – went down shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad airport in Gujarat, western India.
In a statement issued Tuesday (15 July), Air India said a 'safety pause' had been implemented to allow precautionary inspections on its Dreamliner fleet and to manage disruptions caused by airspace closures over the Middle East. The airline has now announced a 'partial restoration' of international services.
From 1 August, passengers will once again be able to fly between Ahmedabad and London Heathrow, with three flights a week replacing the five currently operating between Ahmedabad and Gatwick. More flights are being reinstated across Europe and Asia, including routes from Delhi to Zurich and Heathrow. Regular connections from Delhi to Tokyo and Seoul will also return by 1 September.
However, not all services are back just yet. Flights between Amritsar and Goa to Gatwick remain suspended until at least 30 September. Routes from Bengaluru and Pune to Singapore are also off the cards until further notice. Routes to Birmingham, Sydney, New York, Copenhagen and Chicago are still operating with fewer flights or adjusted schedules.
'As the schedule reductions taken as part of the Safety Pause had been implemented until 31 July 2025 and the restoration to full operation is being phased, some services initially planned to operate between 1 August and 30 September 2025 will be removed from the schedule,' the airline said.
Air India apologised to customers caught in the disruption and said it is 'proactively contacting' affected passengers to offer rebooking options or full refunds. Despite the tragedy and ongoing challenges, the airline will be operating over 525 international flights a week across 63 routes by August.
