Air India's Extra Flights to Europe and Canada — Why the Gulf Crisis Is Redrawing India's Aviation Map
Story By -
Jack Miller 2026-03-17 Air India, Flight Routes 144
For decades, the most common way for Indians to fly to Europe or North America was simple: board a flight, stop in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Doha, change planes, and continue to the destination. The Gulf hubs — Dubai International, Hamad International in Doha, Abu Dhabi's Zayed International — were the world's most efficient transit machinery for passengers travelling between South Asia and the West. Convenient, price-competitive, and geographically logical.
Since February 28, 2026, that machine has largely stopped working.
The US-Israel strikes on Iran, and the retaliatory missile and drone campaign that followed, forced the closure or severe restriction of airspace across much of the Gulf. Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Kuwait Airways — the carriers that together funnelled millions of passengers through Middle Eastern hubs — suspended most of their operations. Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha airports operated at minimal capacity for weeks, and even as operations slowly resume, schedules remain deeply uncertain.
For Air India — India's national carrier, now owned by the Tata Group — the crisis has opened both a challenge and an opportunity.
The Two Waves of Extra Flights
Air India's response to the Gulf disruption has come in two distinct phases.
Phase 1 — March 10 to 18: When the scale of the crisis became clear in early March, Air India announced 78 additional flights across 9 international routes, adding 17,660 seats to its network. Destinations included New York (JFK), London (Heathrow), Frankfurt, Paris (CDG), Amsterdam, Zurich, Colombo, and Malé. The airline deployed its widebody fleet — Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners on European routes, Boeing 777-300ERs on the New York service, and Airbus A320neo aircraft on the shorter regional routes to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Chief Commercial Officer Nipun Aggarwal said the airline was "continuing to maintain scheduled services to Europe and North America, sustaining connectivity to several international gateways using alternative routings that are assessed as safe for operations."
Phase 2 — March 19 to 28: With the Gulf crisis showing no signs of resolution, Air India has now announced a second tranche of 36 additional flights across five major routes, adding 10,012 seats specifically for the Europe and Canada corridors:
- Delhi–London (Heathrow)
- Mumbai–London (Heathrow)
- Delhi–Frankfurt
- Delhi–Zurich
- Delhi–Toronto
Together, the two waves add over 27,000 seats on routes that bypass the Gulf entirely — a remarkable operational shift for an airline that had for years relied heavily on Gulf airspace and Gulf carrier competition for its international passengers.
The Long Way Around — How Routes Have Changed
Flying from Delhi to London the "normal" way via Dubai takes around 9-10 hours total including the connection. The direct Delhi-London route operated by Air India normally takes about 9 hours of flying time.
With Gulf airspace restricted, flights that once crossed Iran or overflew Gulf states now have to take longer alternative routes. Air India's Europe-bound flights are using corridors over Afghanistan, Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan), and the Caspian Sea to reach European airspace without passing through the Iran or Gulf danger zones. Some US-bound flights are routing through Rome (Fiumicino Airport) as a technical stop, because certain transatlantic corridors require a refuelling point now that the standard routing through Gulf airspace is unavailable.
IndiGo's Mumbai–London flight, when it resumed, flew south from Mumbai over Africa and across the Red Sea into Egypt — a detour that stretched the flight to over 10.5 hours.
These reroutes mean flights take longer, burn more fuel, and cost airlines more per seat. For passengers, it means longer journey times and, inevitably, higher ticket prices — a pattern we are already seeing.
Why Air India Is at the Centre of This
The Gulf disruption has reshuffled the competitive landscape of South Asia's aviation sector in ways that benefit Air India directly.
Emirates and Qatar Airways — which together carry a substantial portion of Indian international traffic through their hub-and-spoke model — are either suspended or operating severely reduced schedules. For an Indian passenger who would normally book an Emirates connection through Dubai to Paris, those options are now either unavailable or deeply uncertain.
Air India's advantage is that it operates direct services — Delhi to London, Mumbai to Frankfurt, Delhi to Toronto — that do not depend on a Gulf transit. These routes become significantly more attractive when the Gulf hub model is broken.
The airline is also benefiting from the simple fact that it is Indian. In a crisis where Indian nationals need to return from Europe or travel to North America for work, education, or family emergencies, Air India's direct routes — with Indian staff, Hindi-language support, and India-centric services — have a pull that no foreign carrier can replicate.
Impact on Indian Travellers — What You Need to Know
Flights are more expensive. The combination of longer routes (more fuel), higher insurance premiums for overflying certain regions, and a demand surge means international airfares on India-Europe and India-North America routes have risen significantly since early March. Multiple Indian airlines have added fuel surcharges explicitly linked to the crisis. If you are booking international travel in March or April, expect to pay 20-40% above pre-crisis fares on many routes.
Book as early as possible. Air India is progressively opening bookings for the additional flights through its website, app, and travel agents. Demand is high and seats are filling fast, particularly on the London and Frankfurt routes where NRIs from the UK and Germany are trying to return to or visit India.
Check for rerouting. If your existing Air India booking is being operated via an alternate route, your flight time may have changed. Check the Air India website or app for real-time status updates, especially if your flight operates via Rome or uses a Central Asian corridor.
Gulf carriers are partially resuming. As of March 17, UAE airspace has reopened after multiple closures, and Air India Express is operating 44 scheduled and non-scheduled flights to and from West Asia on this date. However, routes to Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Kuwait, and Riyadh remain suspended or uncertain. The situation can change overnight.
52,000 Indians have already returned from the Gulf through repatriation flights since the crisis began — a number that reflects both the scale of India's Gulf diaspora and the extraordinary operational effort the Indian aviation sector has mounted.
The Bigger Picture — India's Aviation Without the Gulf Safety Net
Before the Iran war, India's international aviation was deeply dependent on the Gulf hub model. Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Gulf Air together operated thousands of India-Gulf flights weekly, and the Gulf hubs were the transit gateway for Indian passengers heading to Europe, North America, Africa, and beyond. India's own carriers — Air India and IndiGo — had direct long-haul routes but faced stiff price competition from the Gulf carriers' subsidised fares and world-class hubs.
The crisis has exposed what happens when that safety net disappears. It has also — perhaps unexpectedly — given Air India its biggest competitive moment since the Tata Group took over in 2022. Direct routes are suddenly not just convenient; they are essential. The Tata Group's investment in Air India's fleet expansion (including new B787 Dreamliners and A350s on order) is already paying dividends in India's ability to respond to this crisis at scale.
For the Indian traveller, the message for now is practical: plan, book early, check your routing, and brace for the fare premium. The Gulf highway is closed. Air India is building an alternate road.
Air India Extra Flights — Quick Reference
|
Phase
|
Period
|
Extra
Flights
|
Extra
Seats
|
Routes
|
|
Phase 1
|
March 10–18
|
78
|
17,660
|
London, Frankfurt, Paris, Amsterdam, Zurich,
New York, Colombo, Malé
|
|
Phase 2
|
March 19–28
|
36
|
10,012
|
London (DEL+BOM), Frankfurt, Zurich, Toronto
|
|
Total
|
|
114
|
27,672
|
|
Phase 2 Specific Routes:
- Delhi–London (Heathrow)
- Mumbai–London (Heathrow)
- Delhi–Frankfurt
- Delhi–Zurich
- Delhi–Toronto
References:
