Air India hit by shortage of crew and aircraft, slashes flights to Dubai, Muscat and Doha

The country's grand old carrier Air India has come a long way from the desperate position where the government was struggling to find a buyer for it. Back under original owner Tata's wing, the former national airline has even placed the largest-ever order for 840 aircraft for expansion.

But as of now, Air India is still plagued by a crew shortage and lack of planes, which has forced it to slash flights to Gulf countries.

Connectivity to the gulf drying up

• Although Air India will fly to the Middle East, the frequency of flights to Oman, UAE, and Qatar will be reduced.

• This means that one weekly flight each on both sides on the Delhi-Muscat, Delhi-Dubai and Delhi-Abu Dhabi routes, will be canceled.

• The weekly Sunday flights between Delhi and Doha will also be discontinued for now.

• The disruption is also reportedly caused by an ongoing network alignment between Air India and Air India Express.

Balancing flights to benefit from festivals and vacations

• The flights will be cancelled after Eid Ul Fitr, since the number of flyers between India and Middle East falls after the festival.

• Air India is also doing this as part of a restructuring process, to make the most of its available fleet, when domestic air traffic in India surges during summer vacations.

• Till then, Air India has increased flights to the UAE to benefit from the upcoming Eid holidays, and Air India Express operated more flights from Kerala to the Emirates, with an eye on Eid, Easter and Vishu in April.

Crew shortage remains a concern

• The airline which had earlier denied a crew crunch, has also been forced to pull down six weekly flights to the US due to lack of staff.

• These cancellations have hit Air India a couple of months after it announced plans to bring 4,200 cabin crew members and 900 pilots on board in 2023.