MUMBAI: The Air India Group has been significantly impacted by the Middle East conflict and the financial impact is “yet to be fully felt”, according to Air India chief Campbell Wilson, who has also stressed the need for having a tighter-than-ever control of unnecessary expenditure.
Loss-making Air India and Air India Express have been grappling with operational disruptions like other airlines since the start of the conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran on February 28.
“In the three weeks since the conflict started, we have had to cancel around 2,500 flights to the region. As of today, we can operate only around 30 per cent of our normal Middle East schedule because airports and/or airspace are closed, or are assessed to be beyond our safety threshold,”
Wilson said in a message to the staff on Friday.
The airline’s flights to the UK, Europe, and North America, are also taking longer flight paths due to airspace restrictions in the region, resulting in more fuel consumption.
Wilson said the impact on Air India Group is significant given the usual scale of its operations to, and through, the Middle East. The financial impact of this crisis is yet to be fully felt, as although the spot price of jet fuel has more than doubled, most of the impact will only hit the group from next month.
Given economic uncertainties, he said it was not certain that customers or companies would be as willing to travel as they were prior to the conflict, and may choose to stay put for a while. The focus must be on safe operations and cost control, Wilson added.