Air India official flags rising costs, crew strain as geopolitical tensions disrupt travel

New Delhi: Disruptions emanating from the ongoing West Asia conflict are impacting the aviation sector, an Air India official said on Wednesday, citing longer flight duration, higher operational costs and pressure on crew availability.

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In a panel discussion during the WION ICONIC Travel & Tourism Summit 2026, Manish Puri, Head of Global Sales, Air India and Air India Express, said, "What impacts Air India or aviation is multi-fold. We already had a part airspace closure for us, and after this Middle East crisis, the journey of a flight which goes to Europe or the US has significantly gone up".

According to him, it doesn't only mean higher fuel costs.

"We have a crew restriction, where a crew can fly a particular number of hours, and the same aircraft, which used to take 13 hours, will start taking around 17-18 hours. There is an immediate shortage of cockpit crew and cabin crew as well," Puri said.

He observed that these factors further curtail operations, and airlines have to bring down the number of flight frequencies to maintain schedule integrity.

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Apart from the West Asia crisis, in the last 1-1.5 years, geopolitical concerns triggered economic uncertainties. The overall long-haul travel has been impacted. The US is a big market for us. Currently, disruptions are impacting the travel schedule and leisure travel, Puri noted.

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