Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to stop traveling abroad. Air India has responded to this call! The airline has temporarily canceled a bunch of international flights for three months. However, Air India did not issue a specific statement directly referring to the Prime Minister’s announcement. Instead, the airline released a statement explaining the reason for suspending international flights. While flights have been suspended on several routes, the airline has not completely suspended international flights.
Air India suspended flights to several US cities including Chicago and New York. Notably, the frequency of flights to Europe and Australia has decreased significantly. Flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Dhaka, Kathmandu and Colombo have also been significantly cut. It is important to note that, usually during summer holidays, many Indians travel to destinations like Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka; However, Air India has now drastically reduced the flights available to these countries. In all, at least seven scheduled flights have been completely canceled through August, and international flights have been reduced by 22 flights overall.
Furthermore, the conflict in the Middle East has driven up global crude oil prices—a direct result of rapidly increasing aviation fuel costs. Against this backdrop, Air India announced just a few days ago that it will reduce its daily flights by around 100 on both domestic and international routes. Citing this same rationale, Air India on Wednesday announced further cuts in its international flight schedule. “Airways remain closed in several regions. Additionally, jet fuel prices have skyrocketed. As a result, airlines have been forced to implement these shortages,” the airline said in a statement.
Incidentally, in his message to the nation on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “Patriotism does not just mean laying down our lives at the border; it means living responsibly in our daily lives and having an abundance of duty towards the nation.” Instead, we have to use all possible means to conserve our foreign exchange reserves.” Along with the announcement, flights to several destinations popular with Indians have been cut.
