Crew crunch amid network expansion forces Air India to cut six US flights

A few flights to Bangkok and Dubai will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft instead of the wide-body Boeing 787

Air India will operate six fewer weekly flights to the US in the next 2-3 months as it grapples with a shortage of flight attendants. A few flights to Bangkok and Dubai too will be operated by Airbus A320 aircraft instead of the wide-body Boeing 787.

Air India, whose ownership changed hands last January, has embarked on a network expansion plan. New flights have been added but a mismatch between the addition of aircraft and availability of crew has caused flight delays and cancellations.

Air India is reducing frequency to the US temporarily, chief executive officer Campbell Wilson said on the sidelines of the CAPA India Aviation Summit today.

Currently it runs 47 flights a week from India to New York, Newark, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington DC. It will cut three weekly flights each to Newark and San Francisco.

The airline has 1,400 cabin crew who are under training and are being progressively inducted into service, he said.

Air India also has hired 100 pilots for its Boeing 777 aircraft which it flies to the US. An extra 140 expatriate pilots too are being hired to cater for network growth.