News
06
www.asianhospitality.com
July 2025 | Issue 238
ir India will reduce international
service on widebody aircraft by 15
percent through at least mid-July,
according to media reports. The decision
comes less than a week after the June 12
crash of an Air India airliner carrying
230 passengers and 12 crew members in
Ahmedabad, India, that killed 246 but left
one survivor among the passengers.
The airline said the reduced service
due to the safety inspection of aircraft
and ongoing geopolitical tensions in
the Middle East, which have disrupted
operations, resulting in 83 flight
cancellations over the six days prior
to the report, according to ABC News.
Passengers can either reschedule their
flights at no additional cost or receive a
full refund.
“The reductions arise from the
decision to voluntarily undertake
enhanced pre-flight safety checks, as
well as accommodate additional flight
durations arising from airspace closures
in the Middle East,” the airline said in a
press release. “The objective is to restore
schedule stability and minimizing last-
minute inconvenience to passengers."
Air India also said 26 out of the
33 Dreamliners in its fleet have now
been returned to service following
the required safety inspections by the
Directorate General of Civil Aviation,
according to ABC. The airline also is
performing "enhanced safety checks" on
its Boeing 777 fleet as a precaution and is
cooperating with authorities.
Air India flight AI171 went down in a
crowded area near the airport shortly
after takeoff. While the causes of the
Ahmedabad crash are still under
investigation, Reuters reported that
India's Directorate General of Civil
Aviation said spot checks in May on
three Air India Airbus planes found that
they were operated despite mandatory
inspections being overdue on the
"critical emergency equipment" of escape
slides.
In one case, DGCA found that the
inspection of an Airbus A320 jet was
delayed by more than a month before
being carried out on May 15, but data
shows that during the delay the plane
flew to several international destinations.
Another case, involving an Airbus A319
used on domestic routes, according to
Reuters, showed checks were over three
months late, while a third showed an
inspection was two days late.
"The above cases indicate that aircraft
were operated with expired or unverified
emergency equipment, which is a violation
of standard airworthiness and safety
requirements," the DGCA report said.
Regarding the investigation into the
crash of flight AI171, BBC News reported
that investigators flight recorder data
from the airplane’s Enhanced Airborne
Flight Recorders. However, it could take
several weeks for authorities to release
information from the recorders.
India’s aviation ministry said data
from the recorder was accessed by a
team led by India's Aircraft Accident
Investigation Bureau with the US
National Transportation Safety Board,
according to the BBC.
"The analysis of CVR and FDR [flight
data recorder] data is underway. These
efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence
of events leading to the accident and
identify contributing factors to enhance
aviation safety and prevent future
occurrences," the ministry said in a
statement.
NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy told
Reuters news agency that she hopes the
Indian government will be able to share
details from the investigation into the
crash in short order.
"For aviation safety and for public
safety and public awareness we hope
that they will make their findings public
swiftly," Homendy said.
Air India reducing flights
after deadly crash
The airline said the reductions were for safety inspections, will last until at
least mid-July
Air India said it will reduce its international service on widebody aircraft by 15 percent through at
least mid-July in the wake of the June 12 crash of an Air India airliner in Ahmedabad, India, that
killed 246.
Photo by Sam PANTHAKY / AFP