Air India cancels 50 international flights amid Middle East crisis
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Air India has cancelled 22 more international services for Sunday, taking the total number of overseas flight cancellations announced so far to 50 due to the Middle East crisis.
Indian airlines are expected to cancel 444 international flights on March 1 due to airspace restrictions in the Middle East, according to the Civil Aviation Ministry.
The Tata Group-owned airline on Sunday said close monitoring and careful assessment of the evolving situation in the Middle East have necessitated further curtailment of its scheduled operations.
Flights to and from Mumbai-London (AI131/ AI130), Delhi- Birmingham (AI113/ AI118), Delhi-Amsterdam (AI155/ AI156), Delhi-Zurich (AI151/ AI152), Delhi-Milan (AI137 / AI138), Delhi-Vienna (AI153 / AI154) and Bengaluru-London (Heathrow) (AI133 / AI132) have been cancelled for the day.
Other cancelled flights are AI157 / AI158 on the Delhi-Copenhagen, AI2017 / AI2018 and AI2015/AI2016 on the Delhi-London (Heathrow), as well as AI2029 / AI2030 on Delhi-Frankfurt routes, the airline said in a post on X.
On Saturday, Air India announced the cancellation of 28 overseas flights on various routes for Sunday.
Aviation regulator DGCA is closely coordinating with airlines to ensure full compliance with safety and operational regulations.
"In view of the prevailing situation, the temporary suspension of select international flights that use Middle East airspace has been extended until 2nd March 2026, 2359 hrs IST," IndiGo said in a post on X.
The conflict between Israel and the US, and Iran has also resulted in multiple airspace closures in the Middle East, massively disrupting flight operations.