Air India will resume some of its international flights in August after the carrier slashed its schedule in the wake of the tragic accident involving one of its Boeing 787 aircraft at Ahmedabad Airport on June 12. 260 people were killed in the accident when flight AI171 en route to Gatwick Airport, including all but one passenger on board and several on the ground, when it smashed into a doctors' accommodation at the Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital.

Air India had used the schedule reduction, which it called its "safety pause", to closely examine its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliner jets. However, the airline has now stated it will be restoring its international schedule from the start of next month. As part of the expansion, Air India will restore frequencies on several key routes from major Indian markets. While the changes will not happen all at once, they indicate Air India's hopes of returning to normal operations after the tragedy.

The gradual introduction of previously operated international flights will continue through September 2025, and by October 1, 2025, Air India hopes to have its entire schedule restored.

Once these changes are implemented, the airline will return to its large international flight schedule. Serving 63 routes that connect India to foreign cities across the world, including the UK, Air India will operate 575 weekly international flights.

Though many of the routes will be returning after it's "safety pause", the carrier does appear to have retired a number of international routes.

In a statement, Air India said: “As the schedule reductions taken as part of the Safety Pause had been implemented until July 31 and the restoration to full operation is being phased, some services initially planned to operate between August 1 and September 30 will be removed from the schedule."

According to Simple Flying, the airline's service between Ahmedabad and London, the route on which AI171 was operating when it crashed just 30 seconds after takeoff, has been altered.

The flight, landing at Gatwick Airport, originally operated five times a week. However, when the route resumes later this year, it will only operate three times a week and will instead land at Heathrow Airport. In addition to this route, flights from Delhi to Zurich, Tokyo, and Seoul will all see full restoration, with frequency even being added to flights to Zurich.