New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Friday issued a show-cause notice to Air India following an alleged delay of over 18 hours in its New Delhi-San Francisco flight, during which passengers were kept seated inside the aircraft for hours, causing some of them to faint in the heat.
Prior to this, another international Air India flight (Mumbai-San Francisco) had seen significant delay on 24 May.
“…it has come to the notice of the DGCA that flight Al-179 dated 24.05.2024 and flight Al-183 dated 30.05.2024 were inordinately delayed and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin,” the notice said.
Coming down heavily on Air India, the DGCA added that “repeated incidences” of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of various DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) had come to light.
“Perusal of available information reveals that M/s Air India has violated the provisions of Para 3.4 and Para 3.8 of CAR Section 3, Series M. Part IV on ‘facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights’,” it said.
The notice pointed out that Air India was “time and again failing” in taking due care of passengers and in complying with the CAR.
“Now, therefore M/s Air India is hereby called upon to Show Cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airline for the aforesaid violation,” it said.
The DGCA has given Air India three days to reply to the notice.
Just this year, multiple fines were imposed on Air India for violating the CAR.
In January, the airline was fined Rs 1.10 crore by the regulator for safety violations on some long-range routes. In March, it was slapped with a fine of Rs 80 lakh for violating flight duty time limitations.
In February, the company was fined Rs 30 lakh after the death of an 80-year-old passenger who walked from the aircraft to the terminal building due to shortage of wheelchairs.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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