Air India, Air India Express to Operate Flights to Jeddah and Muscat as Regional Airspace Remains Open

New Delhi, March 2026 :India’s leading carriers Air India and Air India Express will operate flights to and from Jeddah and Muscat on Tuesday as the airspaces over Saudi Arabia and Oman remain open, according to an official announcement made on Monday.

The two airlines are scheduled to jointly operate 14 flights to and from Jeddah. In addition, Air India Express will run 14 flights connecting Indian cities with Muscat as part of its regular operations.

According to a statement issued by Air India, the airline will operate one round-trip flight from Delhi and two round-trip flights from Mumbai to Jeddah. Meanwhile, Air India Express will operate round-trip services to Jeddah from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mangaluru, and Kozhikode.

Apart from these services, Air India Express will continue its scheduled flights to Muscat from several Indian cities. These include one round-trip each from Delhi, Kannur, Kochi, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, and Tiruchirappalli.

In addition to the regular services, both airlines will also operate a significant number of special flights to the United Arab Emirates. A total of 32 ad-hoc non-scheduled flights will run between Indian cities and destinations in the UAE on Tuesday. However, these flights will be subject to slot availability and operational conditions at the departure airports.

Air India will operate 10 such non-scheduled flights to and from Dubai, including three round-trip services from Mumbai and two round-trips from Delhi. Meanwhile, Air India Express will run one round-trip flight each to Dubai from Mumbai and Bengaluru.

Air India Express will also operate 18 additional non-scheduled flights to other emirates in the UAE. These include round-trip services to Abu Dhabi from Bengaluru and Mumbai, as well as round-trip flights to Sharjah from Bengaluru and Mumbai. The airline will also operate flights to Ras Al-Khaimah, including services from Delhi, Bengaluru, Kochi, and two round-trips from Mumbai.

While operations to Jeddah, Muscat, and the UAE are continuing, the Air India group has announced the cancellation of its scheduled flights to and from several other destinations in West Asia until March 13. The airline stated that passengers booked on these cancelled flights will have the option to reschedule their travel to a later date without additional charges or receive a full refund.

Meanwhile, IndiGo said that conditions in the Middle East remain uncertain but it is working closely with authorities in India and destination countries to gradually restore its flight network across the region and into Europe.

According to the airline, it began restarting scheduled services to selected Middle Eastern destinations in a phased manner from March 3, 2026. Since then, IndiGo has operated more than 165 flights between India and the region, carrying over 22,000 passengers.

The developments come at a time when airlines are cautiously expanding operations in the region while closely monitoring the evolving security and operational situation in the Middle East.

(The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)