‘Safety Pause’: Air India shifts Ahmedabad–London route to Heathrow from Gatwick

From August 1 to September 30, the Air India flight from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick Airport will be inoperative. In place of that, the airline has announced a direct flight from Ahmedabad to London’s Heathrow Airport, which will fly thrice a week.

Five flights operate from Ahmedabad to Gatwick in a week, which will be reduced to three flights on the new route to Heathrow. Gatwick is 60 km away from Heathrow.

Air India announced the changes as part of ‘Safety Pause’.

Ahmedabad to London Air India flights have been delayed and cancelled multiple times after the AI171 crash on June 12. The airline fleet was also subjected to a check by aviation regulator DGCA.

In a statement, Air India stated that flights to London will resume with better frequency in August. The flights will operate fully from October 1. The airline also noted that the restricted airspace of Pakistan and the Middle East has also affected the operations.

On June 12, Air India flight AI171 – a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner – went down shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people, including 241 on board the aircraft, and 19 on the ground.