By Amrit Prakash

New Delhi [India], November 3 (ANI): Facing operational hurdles due to ongoing airspace restrictions over Pakistan, Air India is looking to rebalance its international flight operations by shifting a larger share of its Europe- and America-bound services to Mumbai, its CEO and Managing Director Tewolde Gebremariam said on Tuesday.

Speaking at Aviation India and South Asia 2026, Gebremariam said Delhi has been more adversely impacted by the airspace restrictions than Mumbai, prompting the airline to reconsider the deployment of its international network. However, he clarified that Delhi will continue to remain an important hub, with flights to Europe and America operating from the national capital as well.

'Delhi is also important, but the eastern and south-eastern sides of our network are not affected by the airspace closure. So those growths will be, by and large, in Delhi, while Europe and America will be moved more to Mumbai. We will continue to have Europe and America flights from Delhi, but more will be moving to Mumbai,' Gebremariam said.

Highlighting the need for decentralised connectivity across the subcontinent, the airline revealed it is also actively exploring Bengaluru as a third potential operational hub.

'We are also exploring Bangalore as a third hub, because this is a huge country. On the network side, we are also improving our international sales force and international point of sales to rebalance with India point of sales. That will also help us mitigate currency fluctuation,' he added.

The airline is simultaneously dealing with rising fuel expenses and geopolitical uncertainties in the Middle East, which have added to the challenges confronting the global aviation sector. Gebremariam described these as short-term disruptions that the airline needs to navigate while keeping its long-term expansion plans on track.

'Some of the headwinds are common to the industry-fuel price is common. Every carrier today is suffering from perhaps more than double fuel prices as compared to last year. The geopolitical problems in the Middle East, directly or indirectly, affect all carriers. We have a unique problem of the airspace closure here in Pakistan that affects us, whereas our competitors are not affected by the same problem,' Gebremariam noted.

'I see all these problems as short-term headwinds or turbulence that we need to navigate so that we emerge stronger for long-term future growth,' he affirmed. (ANI)