Facing operational hurdles due to ongoing airspace restrictions over Pakistan, Air India is looking to rebalance its international flight operations by shifting a larger share of its Europe- and America-bound services to Mumbai, its CEO and Managing Director Tewolde Gebremariam said on Tuesday, ANI reported.

Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat

Delhi more affected than Mumbai

Speaking at Aviation India and South Asia 2026 in New Delhi, Gebremariam said Delhi has been more adversely impacted by the airspace restrictions than Mumbai, prompting the airline to reconsider the deployment of its international network. “Most of our network, unfortunately, in Europe and America, has been affected by the airspace closure. Delhi is more affected than Mumbai. So rebalancing the hub means… we still have, we continue to have Europe and America flights from Delhi, but more will be moving to Mumbai,” he said.

Delhi will continue to remain an important hub, he added, and growth on the eastern and south-eastern sides of the network — which are not affected by the airspace closure — will be pursued largely from Delhi.

Bengaluru as a possible third hub

Highlighting the need for decentralised connectivity across the country, Gebremariam said the airline is also actively exploring Bengaluru as a third potential operational hub. “We are also exploring Bangalore as a third hub, because this is a huge country. On the network side, we are also improving our international sales force and international point of sales to rebalance with India point of sales,” he said, according to ANI.

The Hindu BusinessLine, reporting the same summit independently, said the Tata Group-led airline is prioritising regaining market share on international travel to and from India while building its transit business, and is planning more wide-body aircraft orders; its 2023 and 2024 orders included 80 wide-body aircraft — 50 Airbus A350s, 20 Boeing 787s and 10 Boeing 777Xs. Air India Express, the group's low-cost arm, would cater to the lower-priced segment while Air India moves further upmarket, the BusinessLine reported.

Source: The Hindu BusinessLine