Air India on Tuesday announced an increase in flights on several routes to North America and Europe between March 19 and 28 in response to rising passenger demand linked to the ongoing crisis in West Asia.
According to the report, a total of 36 additional flights will operate on the Delhi–London Heathrow Airport, Mumbai–London Heathrow Airport, Delhi–Frankfurt, Delhi–Zurich and Delhi–Toronto routes. The additional services will provide more than 10,000 extra seats for travellers, as airlines deal with increased demand and limited availability of flights.
“Given the sustained surge in international travel amid the ongoing tensions in West Asia, Air India is stepping up capacity on key routes to Europe and North America through March 28,” the airline stated. “These 36 new flights follow our earlier schedule increase between March 10 and 18, when 78 additional services were introduced across nine routes.”
The development comes amid growing geopolitical tensions in the region. On February 28, Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, was killed in coordinated strikes carried out by the United States and Israel. Following the incident, Iran reportedly intensified attacks on US installations across the Gulf, disrupting global supply chains. The Strait of Hormuz, a key route for international energy shipments, has also been affected. Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late leader, has since been named Iran’s new Supreme Leader.
The situation escalated further on Tuesday after Israel confirmed that Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij paramilitary force, were killed in airstrikes in Tehran. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were part of efforts to target key figures within Iran’s leadership.
Apart from the additional flights to Europe and North America, Air India and Air India Express have also been operating expanded services to and from West Asia. On March 16 alone, a total of 48 flights were scheduled to meet the increased travel demand during the ongoing crisis.
