One of India’s premier airlines, Air India, has been forced to trim its international flights from May through July this year due to a surge in jet fuel prices and restricted airspace. No-fly zones in the wake of the Middle East conflict have forced the airline to take longer routes for many international destinations, resulting in increased fuel burn.
Air India Group is estimated to have incurred over ₹22,000 crore (£1.7million) losses in the financial year ended March 31, 2026. As a result, Air India will scale back services to Europe, North America, Australia and Singapore in June. Air India’s outgoing CEO and managing director, Campbell Wilson, in a message to employees, said that many of the airline’s international flights have become unprofitable and continuing operations will further increase losses.
“We have reduced some flying for April and May… A massive rise in jet fuel prices, together with airspace closures and longer flying routes, has caused many of our international flights to become unprofitable to operate,” Wilson told staff, according to news agency PTI.
“The profitability of domestic flights has also been significantly affected, but to a lesser degree, thanks to the government’s limitation of the domestic fuel price rise to 25%,” he said, adding that to offset rising costs, the airline had taken pricing measures, but even these have not helped.
“We have increased airfares and imposed fuel surcharges, but these higher fares impact customer demand. We can only raise fares so much before people decide to stay home,” he added.
The news comes days after the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) wrote to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, highlighting how current aviation fuel prices are stressing the industry. The body stated that operating flights at current fuel prices is “completely unviable,” noting that ATF pricing for international operations had increased by ₹73 (£0.57) per litre.
The FIA further noted that aviation turbine fuel (ATF) typically accounts for 30–40% of an airline’s costs. However, due to the price surge linked to the US-Iran conflict, ATF costs have now risen to 55–60% of total operating expenses.
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