Air India Cancels Flights To United States

Air India has become the latest carrier to be impacted by ongoing supply chain issues, which are affecting its ability to serve key markets during peak season.

The Indian flag carrier confirmed in a statement that flights from November and December from India to cities in the United States will be cancelled.

As part of the carrier’s revised plans for flying, changes will come into effect for November and December as the airline faces aircraft shortages, ongoing maintenance issues, and supply chain-related issues.

The cancellations will affect service to locations such as San Francisco, Washington, DC, Newark Liberty, New York JFK, and so forth between November 15 and December 31.

Because of many related issues, Air India doesn’t have enough aircraft to serve these markets in the capacity it would ideally like. Its previously laid-out schedule has also forecasted that the winter season 24/25 will not be attainable.

A temporary reduction is taking place in the operating fleet, with most notably the availability of widebody aircraft being more limited than usual, meaning fulfilling the frequency to certain cities won’t be possible.

According to local reporting, up to 14 flights will be cancelled across the Delhi to Chicago service. Meanwhile, there will also be 28 flight cancellations from Delhi to Washington, the highest of all the routes. Twelve flights will be cancelled between Delhi and San Francisco, and six total flights to the New York region.

During peak seasons, these route cancellations can be regarded as quite substantial and a true reflection of the ongoing difficulties not just at Air India but primarily at many other airlines within the industry.

Whether airlines face struggles concerning the maintenance of their planes in other respects, there are significant difficulties in obtaining new and on-time aircraft as manufacturers struggle to deliver planes on time.

Fleet data indicates that Air India has ten currently parked aircraft spread across many aircraft types. The following aircraft are currently listed as parked:

• 2x Airbus A319-100s
• 1x Airbus A320neo
• 4x Boeing 777-300ERs
• 3x Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners

Customers affected by these changes are said to contact the airline if they haven’t already, with Air India looking to offer full refunds and a means to alter their travel. The flag carrier is apologising for all these circumstances that are falling out of its control.