Air India to cut international flights on widebody aircraft by 15%

(Reuters) -Air India said on Wednesday it will cut international operations on its widebody aircraft by 15% for the next few weeks, citing ongoing safety inspections and operational disruptions following last week's deadly crash of one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners.

Authorities continue to investigate the crash of flight AI171, which killed 241 people and marked the world's deadliest aviation disaster in a decade.

The airline said in a statement that inspections had been completed on 26 of its 33 Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft, and those 26 have been cleared for service.

The cuts, effective until at least mid-July, were being implemented "to ensure stability of operations, better efficiency and minimise inconvenience to passengers," the Tata Group-owned airline said.

The remaining planes will be checked in the coming days and additional checks are also planned for its Boeing 777 fleet, Air India added.

Flight AI171, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, killing all but one on board and about 30 people on the ground.

Earlier on Wednesday, Air India Chairman N. Chandrasekaran said the flight that crashed had a clean engine history.

In an interview with Indian broadcaster Times Now, Chandrasekaran said Air India flight 171's right engine was new and installed in March 2025, and that the left engine was last serviced in 2023.

The Dreamliner was fitted with GE Aerospace's GEnx engines.

Air India also cited geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and "night curfews in many European and East Asian airspaces" as contributing factors behind flight cancellations, which have totaled 83 over the past six days.

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram, Surbhi Misra, Mrinmay Dey and Abinaya V, Editing by Timothy Heritage, Alan Barona and Nia Williams)