Air India, which has been making multiple schedule changes post the horrific crash at Ahmedabad last month, is making changes to its London operations which sees the flagship A350-900 being deployed from Delhi.
The airline which operates to both London Heathrow and London Gatwick is suspending operations to London Gatwick until the end of Northern Summer schedule. The schedule transitions to Northern Winter on October 26, 2025 and further changes remain likely.
The airline faced a lot of flak for delays and cancellations in the aftermath of the crash which also saw the airline face two other challenges, The regulator mandated checks on its fleet and sudden closure of the Iranian airspace. The airline then announced a cut of 15% of its schedule on international routes, followed by a 5% cut on domestic routes. The schedules have been undergoing a lot of updates in the last week, with Aero routes reporting and extension of the cuts beyond mid-July. The airline has withdrawn most information from its newsroom page where details were posted.
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Amidst this, the airline is making changes to its flights to London, where the Goa, Mopa – London Gatwick along with Amritsar – London Gatwick route was suspended until July 15 and the cancellations have now been extended until the end of Summer schedule. The airline operated thrice a week service from both Goa and Amritsar. The airline had re-numbered its Ahmedabad – London Gatwick service after the crash, in line with global practices. Additionally, the airline had announced reduction of frequency on Delhi – London Heathrow from 24 weekly to 22 weekly and between Bengaluru and London Heathrow to 6 weekly from Daily, thus having three pairs of slots at London Heathrow. In May, the airline was operating 12 weekly departures from London Gatwick, with five to Ahmedabad, four to Amritsar and three to Goa-Mopa, having withdrawn the Kochi – London Gatwick flight a little earlier.
The airline now pulls out of London Gatwick with the Ahmedabad service shifting to London Heathrow beginning August. I saw this first on X where a user posted about it last night. The slots come from reduction of Bengaluru – London Heathrow service, which is currently reduced from Daily to six times a week and sees further reduction to four times a week. Flights begin August 02, 2025 and operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The airline simultaneously reinstates its flights from Delhi with all 24 weekly operations starting in the second half of this month.
The Amritsar – London Gatwick service is closed for sale until the end of summer schedule. Likewise the shift from London Gatwick to London Heathrow for flights originating at Ahmedabad, is in place until October, when the current Northern Summer schedule ends.
Slot protection and consolidation
It remains unclear if the airline has been heavily impacted by cancellation and lack of forward bookings as a fallout of the crash or if the airline is doing this as part of bettering its operations in view of continued closure of Pakistani airspace or a mix of both.However, London Heathrow is a slot constrained airport and the airline would have to do everything possible to hold on to its slots. The current consolidation seems to be a part of that exercise.
The airline also had plans for refurbishment of widebody aircraft to start in July. There has not been any news thus far about this much delayed refurbishment exercise. As per its initial announcements, the activity should have ended by 2025, however there have been delays, which the airline has blamed on the supply chain, a fact which it should have known at the time of announcements. Its narrowbody reconfiguration which began in September was to end by June, by its own admission and that too is only half way through.
Gatwick opportunity for IndiGo ?
Information released by slot co-ordinator ACL for Initial Winter 25 filing at London Gatwick shows IndiGo obtaining 616 new movements, translating to double daily flights, indicating a daily service from Delhi and Mumbai onboard the leased 787-9 Dreamliners. The airline is yet to open bookings for this service but is expected soon, which will further try to take a chunk out of Air India’s current share and add to its troubles.
Network Thoughts
Air India seems to be following a strategy where it shrinks and tries becoming stronger before bouncing back. I have personally experienced this strategy in Kingfisher Airlines, where it only shrunk. Air India is no Kingfisher but the strategy has been tried time and again by carriers and the bounce back has taken longer. If indeed Air India is following this strategy, it would make sense to come back with a new product. There have already been pictures in circulation of both the 787 and 350 from the new order and it will be a matter of months before the new product joins in.
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