Major Indian airlines, including Air India, IndiGo and Air India Express, will reduce domestic flight operations from June amid rising fuel costs, weak seasonal demand and operational pressures linked to the conflict in West Asia, officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
Air India will reduce about 22% of its domestic flights from next month, officials said. The airline had previously reduced about 27% of its international operations.
These cuts come amid a sharp rise in aviation turbine fuel prices in the wake of the US-Israel conflict with Iran, which has increased operating costs for airlines. Indian airlines also faced longer flight times and higher expenses due to the continued closure of Pakistani airspace to Indian airlines.
Air India, which reported a record annual loss of more than $2 billion in 2025-26, said the latest cuts were part of a temporary network rationalization.
“In continuation of the adjustments we announced earlier to select international services between June and August 2026, we have temporarily rationalized operations on some domestic routes during the same period, with a reduction in frequencies on selected routes. These adjustments are driven by the ongoing impact of rising fuel prices on overall operations,” an Air India spokesperson said. Air India will continue to closely monitor demand and operating conditions, with a view to restoring frequencies as conditions stabilize.”
“Passengers affected by these changes will be assisted with re-accommodation on alternative flights, a free date change, or a full refund, as applicable,” the spokesperson added.
Air India currently operates around 3,600 domestic flights weekly.
Officials also said that Air India Express will reduce some domestic flights, although the impact will still be less than 10%.
“We have gradually restored connectivity between India and West Asia and have also introduced new routes across our domestic and international network, making calibration adjustments to optimize our network and align capacity with changes in demand. The impact on domestic frequencies is less than 10%,” an Air India Express spokesperson said.
The airline currently operates about 500 weekly flights between India and West Asia, up from about 280 a few weeks ago, and more than 3,000 weekly flights across its wider domestic and international network, the spokesman added.
IndiGo is also expected to trim domestic operations by about 10-13% on a quarterly basis, officials said.
