Late on 4 April, Air India and its low-cost sibling Air India Express released a detailed operating plan for 5 April that shows just 32 flights – a mix of regularly-scheduled and ad-hoc services – will link India with the Gulf. Twelve of those rotations are non-scheduled “relief” flights to the United Arab Emirates, mounted at short notice once airport slots are confirmed. Muscat, Jeddah and Riyadh are the only Gulf points still receiving daily scheduled flights; Doha, Bahrain and Kuwait remain off the board, and Tel Aviv is completely suspended. All long-haul service to North America, Europe and Australia is operating, albeit on circuitous routings. The Tata-owned group is proactively contacting affected passengers and has waived change fees as well as fare differences for rebooking on a future date. Travellers may also take a full refund. Air India Express is pushing customers towards its WhatsApp-based digital assistant “Tia” to self-manage changes – an early example of conversational AI being used to cope with large-scale operational disruption. For mobility teams the key takeaway is that capacity is being managed on a 24-hour cycle. Employers moving project teams to construction sites in the Gulf are advised to book only once the daily plan is released and to allow 6-hour buffers for onward connections. The airline says it is “exploring every opportunity” to add more ad-hoc flights but warns that security clearances and over-flight approvals can change at the last minute.
Source: Air India Press Release
