Hundreds of people have lost their lives in the ongoing war between America, Israel and Iran, while losses worth billions of dollars have been incurred so far. India is also not untouched by this loss. Meanwhile, news has come to light that Air India has canceled about 2,500 flights going to West Asia in the last three weeks. India’s largest airline has said that it is flying only 30% of its full scheduled operations in this entire region.
Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in a message sent to employees on Friday that this step has been taken due to the ongoing war in Iran. Wilson said, ‘The world, our region and our industry are struggling with the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. “The impact on Air India Group is significant given the sheer scale of our operations in and through the Middle East.”
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Airports and airspace are closed
He said, ‘In the three weeks since the conflict started, we have had to cancel about 2,500 flights to this area. As of today we are only able to operate 30% of our normal Middle East schedule due to airport and airspace closures. He is considered out of our security limits.
Industry starts getting affected
Wilson said that due to this blockage, our industry has started to be affected, the prices of jet fuel have more than doubled. He said, ‘The major impact will be felt from next month only. The airline has already imposed fuel surcharge on new tickets to bring down the rising costs a bit.
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Air India is looking for a new market
He further said, ‘Other flights to Britain, Europe and North America are being diverted further away from the long flight paths being used since last year’s Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, which is burning more oil and taking more time.’ However, he expressed concern over the decline in travel demand amid great economic uncertainty. He said that not every customer is willing to pay higher airfares, so there is a limit to how high we can keep the prices before the demand goes down.
He said that Air India is looking at new opportunities in markets like Europe and North America. Air India flights are operating in this area.
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