Air India to suspend Delhi-Washington flights from September 1 due to truncated Boeing 787 fleet, Pakistan airspace closure
'The suspension is primarily driven by the planned shortfall in Air India's fleet, as the airline commenced retrofitting 26 of its Boeing 787-8 aircraft last month. This extensive retrofit programme, aimed at significantly enhancing customer experience, necessitates a prolonged unavailability of multiple aircraft at any given time until at least end of 2026. That, coupled with the continued closure of airspace over Pakistan, impacts the airline's long-haul operations, leading to longer flight routings and increased operational complexity,' Air India said in a release.
'Customers with Air India bookings to or from Washington, D.C. beyond September 1, 2025 will be contacted and offered alternative travel arrangements, including rebooking on other flights or full refunds, as per their individual preferences. Air India customers will continue to have the options of one-stop flights to Washington, DC via four US gateways—New York (JFK), Newark (EWR), Chicago, and San Francisco—with the airline's interline partners, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, allowing customers to travel on a single itinerary with their baggage checked through to the final destination,' the carrier said, adding that it will continue to operate non-stop flights between India and six destinations in North America, including Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.
While Air India did not specify till when the Delhi-Washington service will remain suspended, flight schedules data suggests that the route could remain suspended well into next year. Air India had earlier planned to increase the frequency to up to five flights a week, it is learnt.
The closure of the Pakistani airspace to Indian airlines and aircraft had extended flight durations for international flights flying West from airports in North India, forcing Air India to convert a number of its long-haul services to North America to one-stop flights with technical halts at European airports. While most of those flights were reverted back to non-stop services through alternative routings, the Delhi-Washington service is among the few remaining services that are operating through one-stop flights. Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines and aircraft as relations between New Delhi and Islamabad soured in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists.
The tragic crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 12 also led to greater scrutiny of other aircraft of the type in Air India's fleet, with the airline itself introducing a 'safety pause' and doing additional voluntary pre-departure checks of its aircraft. The safety pause also led to some disruption in Air India's wide-body aircraft operations, and led to the airline announcing a temporary curtailment in its international wide-body schedule, which is expected to be reinstated from October 1. Meanwhile, Air India has also embarked upon the second phase of the programme to retrofit its legacy fleet to bring it at par with its new product and brand identity.
The $400-million retrofit programme starting with its legacy narrow-body aircraft began in September last year. In the second phase, which began last month, its legacy wide-body jets will be retrofitted with new interiors, apart from having their avionics and other critical components upgraded. The retrofit of Air India's legacy Boeing 787 is expected to be completed by mid-2027, which would mean that the operational fleet would be curtailed till the programme is on. The retrofit of Air India's legacy Boeing 777 jets is likely to start in January 2027 and be completed by October 2028. The first phase of the programme—for 27 legacy narrow-body planes—is likely to be completed by September this year.
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