In the aftermath of the June 12 fatal crash involving an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the airline has cancelled 66 Dreamliner flights, with a total of 83 cancellations across its wide-body fleet, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The cancellations are part of a sweeping safety review, operational disruptions, and airspace restrictions affecting the airline’s global schedule.
The DGCA revealed that 24 out of 33 Dreamliners had completed mandatory safety inspections, with additional aircraft scheduled for checks in the coming days. The ongoing investigation — involving teams from India, the US, the UK, Boeing, and engine manufacturer GE — is focused on determining the cause of the crash, which killed 241 of 242 people on board and over 30 more on the ground after Flight AI-171 (now redesignated AI-159) went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad.
On Tuesday alone, 13 Dreamliner flights, including the Ahmedabad–London route, were grounded due to technical or operational issues. Flights such as AI-143 (Delhi-Paris) and AI-180 (San Francisco–Mumbai via Kolkata) were cancelled after identifying snags during pre-flight checks or engine failures. The return flight AI-179 was also called off.
Further cancellations included services on Delhi-Dubai (AI-915), Bengaluru-London (AI-133), and Delhi-Vienna (AI-153). Additional domestic routes were affected due to adverse weather. Complicating the airline’s recovery, Pakistan and Iranian airspace closures have forced costly reroutes and increased crew duty-hour constraints.
Aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan noted that disruptions were inevitable under the current circumstances, with aircraft grounded for checks and geopolitical tensions straining operations. Air India is offering refunds, rescheduling, and hotel accommodations to affected passengers, while the DGCA monitors compliance with enhanced safety protocols.
