In major news since our last update; Air India Express announces thrice weekly Pune & Abu Dhabi direct flights, Air India to connect Delhi & Shanghai with 4X weekly flights from Feb 2026 and increases frequency on the Delhi - Bali and Delhi - Kuala Lumpur route to 10X weekly, Emirates to operate world’s largest Star-link enabled wide-body fleet with free high-speed Wi-Fi across 232 aircraft. MoCA curtails Indigo’s winter schedule by 10% to stabilise operations - six flight routes from Pune affected by the curtailment, Air India completes 1st phase of fleet retrofit - 104 A320 family aircraft now feature upgraded cabins. These are more updates in the December edition.

Air India completes 1st phase of fleet retrofit; 104 A320 family aircraft now feature upgraded cabins

Air India has completed the first phase of its fleet modernisation programme, successfully retrofitting all 27 of its legacy A320neo aircraft with upgraded cabin interiors and the airline’s new livery. This marks a key milestone in the airline’s USD 400 million initiative to renew its entire legacy fleet, which began in September 2024. With the completion of this phase, Air India now operates 104 A320 family aircraft with new or enhanced interiors.

Each of the retrofitted A320neo aircraft now features a fully redesigned three-class cabin, equipped with economy, premium economy and business class seats. Each seat includes both USB-A and USB-C charging ports, enabling passengers to power devices and access Vista Stream, Air India’s inflight entertainment streaming service offering nearly 900 hours of global content.

The upgraded fleet - comprising retrofitted A320neos, newly delivered A320neos, and those integrated through the ongoing merger with Vistara - supports 3,024 weekly flights across 82 routes. These include India’s busiest domestic sectors such as Delhi-Mumbai, Mumbai-Bengaluru, and Delhi–Chennai, as well as short-haul international destinations including Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Male, Riyadh, and Singapore.

DGCA orders IndiGo to cut flights by 5%; MoCA doubles it to 10% to stabilise operations; Six flight routes from Pune affected till Dec 31, 2025

The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) has ordered IndiGo to curtail its flight schedule by 10 per cent in order to stabilise its operations. This comes after aviation regulator DGCA had ordered IndiGo to cut its planned flights by 5 per cent on high-capacity routes during winter, as it looked to bring some order at India's biggest airline, which cancelled thousands of flights nationwide between Dec 03 and Dec 05 after failing to plan for tighter safety regulations.

As a consequence, IndiGo has temporarily suspended six scheduled flight movements at Pune Airport from December 15 until December 31, 2025. The affected flight routes are:

• Varanasi - Pune: Flights 6E 6884 (Varanasi to Pune) and 6E 497 (Pune to Varanasi)
• Bengaluru - Pune: Flights 6E 6876 (Bengaluru to Pune) and 6E 6877 (Pune to Bengaluru)
• Guwahati - Pune: Flight 6E 746 (Guwahati to Pune)
• Chennai - Pune: Flight 6E 918 (Pune to Chennai)

Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) opens its runways to passengers on 25 December 2025:

India’s newest greenfield airport, NMIA will commence commercial operations on Dec 25, 2025 with 23 scheduled daily departures. Indigo will operate the inaugural arrival and departure flights, followed by Air India Express and Akasa Air.

The airport will scale up to 34 departures and 120 daily air traffic movements by Feb 2026. In its launch phase, NMIA will provide access to 16 domestic destinations: Ahmedabad (AMD), Aurangabad (IXU), Bengaluru (BLR), Chennai (MAA), Cochin (COK), Coimbatore (CJB), Delhi (DEL), Goa (GOI & GOX), Hyderabad (HYD), Jaipur (JAI), Jammu (IXJ), Kolkata (CCU), Lucknow (LKO), Mangaluru (IXE), Nagpur (NAG), Vadodara (BDQ).

The new three letters code assigned for the Navi Mumbai airport is NMI. So like Goa which has two airport codes (GOI and GOX), Mumbai will now also have two airport codes - BOM for the CSMIA airport at Andheri and NMI for the new NMIA airport in Navi Mumbai.

Emirates to operate world’s largest star-link enabled wide-body fleet with free high-speed Wi-Fi across 232 aircraft:

Emirates is set to become the world’s largest operator of Starlink enabled wide-body aircraft, offering passengers free, high-speed inflight Wi-Fi on all Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 aircraft. The move marks another milestone in Emirates’ long-standing strategy to deliver the most advanced onboard connectivity and comfort in the industry.

IndiGo and China Southern Airlines sign MoU to launch codeshare partnership

Indigo, India’s leading airline, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China Southern Airlines to form a comprehensive codeshare and mutual cooperation partnership. The agreement marks an important milestone in deepening air connectivity between India and China, facilitating greater access, convenience, and growth across both countries’ rapidly expanding aviation markets. Under the proposed arrangement-subject to regulatory approvals - China Southern Airlines will gain the ability to market and sell seats on select IndiGo-operated flights across India, while IndiGo customers will enjoy the convenience of booking through itineraries across China Southern Airlines’ extensive international network, particularly beyond Guangzhou, its main hub.

Air India reinstates codeshare agreement with Air Canada after 5 years - Passengers to benefit on 6 new routes:

Air India has reinstated its codeshare agreement with Air Canada with effect from Dec 02, 2025. The codeshare agreement with Air Canada will enable Air India to offer passengers access to six points across Canada beyond its gateways at Vancouver and London (Heathrow). The routes are from Vancouver to: Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montréal and Halifax and from London Heathrow to Vancouver and Calgary.

Air India Express announces new direct flights between Pune and Abu Dhabi:

Air India Express announces a new direct flight between Pune & Abu Dhabi from Dec 02, '25 with thrice weekly flights (Tue, Thu, Sat) as per the following schedule:

Air India announces Delhi - Shanghai 4X weekly flights from Feb 01, 2026:

Air India has announced new 4X weekly flights between Delhi & Shanghai from Feb 01, 2026 as per the following schedule:

Air India increases frequency on the Delhi - Bali route to 10x weekly:

Air India has increased frequency on the Delhi - Bali route, offering 10 non-stop weekly flights starting Dec 01, 2025 with the following schedule:

Air India increases frequency on the Delhi - Kuala Lumpur route to 10x weekly:

Air India has increased frequency on the Delhi - Kuala Lumpur route, offering 10 direct weekly flights starting Dec 01, 2025 with the following schedule:

Important Update for German Visa Applicants:

Effective Oct 20, 2025, all applicants applying for a German visa must visit the VFS Global Centre in person to provide their biometrics, even if they have submitted them previously.

New Zealand to increase visa VAC fees from Jan 2026:

New Zealand to set to increase the Visa Application Centre service fees in 26 countries, including India, from January 2026.

Chinese Embassy in India to launch online visa application system on December 22:

The Chinese Embassy in India will launch its online visa application system on Dec 22 which will allow applicants the convenience of completing forms and uploading documents digitally.

South Africa's Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system moves into Phase 2:

South Africa's Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system has moved into Phase 2 of its roll out in Nov 2025. The ETA system replaces the traditional paper visas for all the G20 countries including India.