Air India to cut an additional 145 weekly international flights

NEW DELHI: International connectivity to and from India will see a sharp drop this summer with Air India set to suspend an additional about 145 weekly flights between this June and Aug. While these new cuts, which come on top of almost 100 daily flights being suspended earlier this summer, have been made to reduce costs amid spiralling operating expenditures and mounting losses, for passengers it will mean even higher fares on the truncated supply this summer as the big Gulf carriers are also operating a reduced capacity.Air India says it will try to make alternate arrangements for travel for affected passengers who had booked on flights that are now going to be cancelled, failing which a refund will be given.Region-wise, AI is cutting maximum flights to and from the east; followed by North America, Europe and Australia. While some international routes have been suspended temporarily, others will see frequency cuts. Routes like Delhi-Newark/Chicago/ Shanghai/Male; Mumbai New York (JFK)/Dhaka and Chennai-Singapore will be temporarily suspended. Delhi-Kathmandu frequency will be reduced from 42 times weekly to 28 weekly in June.