• Air India is cutting international flights by 15% after a deadly crash and conflict in the Middle East.
• The crash, which killed 241, involved a Boeing 787. The airline is conducting checks on its fleet.
• Fighting between Israel and Iran has closed airspace, causing airlines to suspend some flights.

Air India announced Wednesday it would cut its international schedule by 15% in the coming weeks, citing last week's deadly plane crash and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

"The curtailments are a painful measure to take, but are necessary following a devastating event which we are still working through and an unusual combination of external events," the airline said in a statement provided to Business Insider.

On June 12, Air India flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 of the 242 people on board.

It's still not clear what caused the Boeing 787 Dreamliner to crash minutes after take-off. India's civil aviation ministry has held just one press conference since the crash, and questions weren't allowed.

"The investigating authorities are continuing their efforts to find out the reasons for the accident," Air India said in its statement.

It added that the reduction in international services was due in part to a safety review of its aircraft.

The airline said India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation, which regulates the country's civil aviation industry, had ordered enhanced safety inspections across Air India's Boeing 787-8/9 aircraft fleet.

It said that, as of Wednesday, 26 of 33 planes had been inspected and cleared for service, with the remaining seven still under inspection.

It also said it was conducting its own "enhanced safety checks" on its Boeing 777 fleet as an added precaution.

But these aren't the only reasons for the cuts to international services.

Air India also cited geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, where both Iranian and Israeli airspace has been closed following an Israeli strike on Iran last Friday.

The two countries have continued to trade aerial strikes, leading to Israel's flagship carrier, El Al Airlines, suspending all flights until further notice.

Several global airlines, including Emirates and Etihad, have also suspended flights to Tel Aviv and Tehran.

Air India said that due to "certain disruptions" to international operations over the six days before Wednesday, it had canceled 83 flights.

The airline said the 15% cuts to international services on widebody aircraft would continue until at least mid-July.

"This effectively adds to our reserve aircraft availability to take care of any unplanned disruptions," it said.

The airline said it would try to rebook affected passengers on alternative flights, but they can also choose to reschedule or request a full refund.

• An Air India Boeing 787 crashed less than a minute after takeoff on Thursday.
• The crash comes as both Boeing and Air India are trying to turn themselves around.
• Attorneys and aviation experts said no conclusions could be drawn until the investigation ended.

Thursday's fatal crash of an Air India Boeing 787 shortly after takeoff comes as both the airline and Boeing try to revive their public images.

After 2024 became an annus horribilis for Boeing, 2025 is crucial for the planemaker to show it is successfully overhauling its processes.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took over last year and has made the turnaround the centerpiece of his leadership, has scrapped plans to travel to next week's Paris Air Show, CNBC and Bloomberg reported. The event is a crucial industry showcase. Neither Boeing nor Air India responded to requests for comment from Business Insider.

On Thursday, Ortberg shared the company's "deepest condolences" to everyone affected and said a team stood ready to support the investigation.

After visiting the crash site Friday morning, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in a video statement, "We know that the investigations will take time but we will be fully transparent and will support the process for as long as it takes."

"Air India will continue to do everything we can to care for those affected by this tragedy, and to uphold the trust placed in us," he added.

'The crash derails Boeing stock's positive momentum'

When an Alaska Airlines 737 Max lost a door plug during a January 2024 flight, regulators capped Boeing's production of the type. A seven-week strike then shut down key facilities, further hurting revenue.

Boeing ended 2024 as the Dow Jones' biggest loser, as its share price fell 31%. Investors had been reassured by Ortberg's work to turn the company around, and the stock had risen more than 20% in 2025 before the crash.

It dropped about 4% after Thursday's crash and fell more than 3% Friday morning.

Morgan Stanley analysts said Thursday that the crash "derails the positive momentum on Boeing's stock."

Jeff Windau, a senior industrials analyst for Edward Jones, said in a research note that he expects near-term volatility and raised the possibility of enhanced scrutiny on Boeing's processes.

"However, at this time, we do not feel there will be a long-term impact to production," he added.

Air India has been working to turn itself around

Following decades of state ownership and huge losses, Air India was acquired by the Tata Group in 2022. The airline has expanded with hundreds of additional flights, flying 60 million customers to 103 destinations through 2024.

The new owners invested billions, and the airline has ordered hundreds of planes to replace its aging fleet.

In a December interview with BI, Wilson compared his work revitalising Air India to "drinking from a firehose."

He added that he thought the turnaround was close to completion, but said there were supply-chain constraints. "Until we upgrade the aircraft, then people won't believe that the transformation has happened," Wilson said.

Alan Tan, an aviation law professor at the National University of Singapore, told BI that Air India in particular would have an immediate hit to customer perception.

"But as other leading airlines facing crises have shown, these are not insurmountable," he added. "Transparency and accountability in investigations, and consistent messaging to the public, will hopefully reduce the risks of a media spectacle."

A lengthy investigation

It will take a thorough and lengthy investigation before there are answers about what caused the crash.

Attorneys who have battled Boeing in the courts were among the people BI spoke to who were hesitant to draw any conclusions.

"The fact that this tragedy involves a Boeing aircraft does not necessarily mean that there's something wrong with the actual aircraft — as distinguished from issues surrounding maintenance, or even products that are not Boeing's, such as the engines," said Robert Clifford, lead counsel for the families of victims of the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash, in which a 737 Max crashed shortly after takeoff, killing more than 150 people.

He added that a quick and efficient investigation is necessary to "help calm the public."

Thursday's incident was the first fatal crash and total hull loss of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, one of the most advanced passenger jets, which entered service in 2011.

The model has faced some criticism from whistleblowers. Last year, Sam Salehpour, a quality engineer at Boeing, told NBC he observed "shortcuts to reduce bottlenecks" in manufacturing 787s. Boeing responded that it was "fully confident in the 787 Dreamliner."

On Thursday, Salehpour's attorneys urged the Federal Aviation Administration to release a report investigating his claims.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director at Aerodynamic Advisory, told BI, "It's a terrible tragedy, but I just don't see how this impacts anything [for Boeing]."

"Unless it's the unlikely event that they do find a design or manufacturing flaw, but after all these years, both for this type of aircraft and this particular aircraft, that's not normal," he added.

• Airlines are adding hours of flight time to reroute around Pakistan amid rising tensions.
• Air India has added a fuel stop in Europe on treks to and from North America.
• IndiGo has suspended some flights to Central Asia because its planes now can't make the trek.

Flights by Indian carriers, including Air India, IndiGo, and SpiceJet, are spending hours of extra time circumventing closed Pakistan airspace amid rising tensions between the two nations.

The carriers could previously fly west across neighboring Pakistan to connect to countries in Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

Now, they must reroute around Pakistan's borders after the government closed its airspace to Indian airlines following India's response to an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday.

Air India's Delhi hub is most impacted, as planes must detour south around Pakistan and across the Arabian Sea before returning north. With more miles to cover, some flights to North America must stop in Europe to fuel up before finishing their trek across the Atlantic, adding up to four hours to their passengers' journeys.

An Air India spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that treks to North America will stop in Vienna or Copenhagen for fuel, adding up to four hours of travel time. He added that other flights to Europe and the Middle East will see "extended" routes.

Another airline, IndiGo, is suspending some routes due to the closure.

India-based CNBC affiliate CNBC-TV18 reported the budget carrier has temporarily cut flights to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, through at least May 7 because the now longer westward treks are too far for its narrow-body Airbus planes to reach.

Fuel stops add hours to US-bound flights

Take Sunday's flight from Delhi to Chicago, for example. The plane flew about eight hours to Vienna, spent about an hour and a half on the ground, and then flew another nine hours to the US.

Sunday's flight to New York, which stopped in Copenhagen, spent about the same time in the air and a similar 90 minutes on the ground.

The more than 18-hour journeys exceeded the typical 14 to 15-hour treks pre-Pakistan closure.

San Francisco flights to and from Mumbai, previously about 17-hour flights, now exceed 20 hours of travel time with the stop.

"Air India regrets the inconvenience caused to our passengers due to this unforeseen airspace closure that is outside our control," the spokesperson said. "We would like to reiterate that at Air India, the safety of our customers and crew remains top priority."

Nonstop flights will take extra time

Even if Air India operates some westbound long-haul flights nonstop, the lengthy detour will still add hours of flight time.

Flight tracking data shows that the route from Toronto to Delhi on Friday and Saturday flew nonstop in about 15 hours, compared to the typically 13 hours previously.

Nonstop flights from India to Europe and the Middle East are less affected time-wise, but can still be a nuisance for travelers.

Air India flights from Delhi to cities like Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, and London took about nine hours before Thursday; now they're reaching 10 or more.

SpiceJet and IndiGo said they're seeing a similar impact, with IndiGo announcing that 50 international routes would be longer than usual.

For example, since Thursday, Flightradar24 shows IndiGo's flight from Delhi to Tbilisi, Georgia, has taken up to an hour extra. SpiceJet's route from Amritsar, India, to Dubai is similarly longer.

All three airlines have advised customers on social media and their websites to monitor their flight status for schedule adjustments, rebooking, and refund options.

This isn't the first time geopolitical tensions have forced lengthy detours. Carriers like Finnair and United Airlines started flying extra hours to Asia after Russia closed its airspace following its attack on Ukraine in 2022.