New Delhi: Aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has imposed a penalty of ₹10 lakh on Tata Son’s owned Air India allegedly for not complying with the standard norms of operation.
DGCA in a statement on Wednesday said that it inspected the scheduled domestic flight operation at Delhi, Kochi and Bangalore airports in May and September to ascertain whether the airlines were discharging their obligations related to facilities/compensation to the passengers as per the laid down provisions. “It was found that Air India was not complying with the provisions of the relevant civil aviation requirements (CAR). Accordingly, a show cause notice was issued to Air India on November 3, seeking their response for non-compliance to the provisions of the relevant regulations,” said a DGCA officer.
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DGCA sources said that Air India admitted having not complying with provisions of the CAR, though it claim to be providing hotel accommodation for passengers affected by delayed flights. The airline was also found maintaining slackness to provide training to some of its ground personnel as per stipulated provisions of the CAR. Further, it was noticed that international business class passengers, who were made to travel on unserviceable seats, were not compensated adequately.
Earlier this month, DGCA slapped a show cause notice to Air India for violations of certain passenger-centric provisions of the CAR. The regulator said that it considers it imperative to continuously strengthen the rights of the passengers and ensure that the airlines operate under harmonised conditions in line with the best global practices. “Accordingly, DGCA had issued CAR Section-3, Series M part IV titled “Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights” in 2010 to ensure appropriate protection for air travellers in case of flight disruptions and, in particular, denied boardings, flight cancellations, and delays.”
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Air India had in early November said that it would add 30 aircraft and four new international destinations in the winter schedule. New aircraft joining the fleet will include six Airbus A350s, four Boeing 777s, and 20 Airbus A320neos. It had further stated that it will add more than 400 weekly domestic and international flights during the winter schedule.
Accordingly, an Air India officer said, the airline ramped up the frequency by 25x weekly flights (each way) on eight international routes across points in Southeast Asia, the United States, and Europe. It has also announced flights on new routes, including Bengaluru-Singapore, Kochi-Doha, Kolkata-Bangkok, and Mumbai-Melbourne.
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In a statement, Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said, “While modernising our fleet and introducing new products and services is a top priority in Air India’s ongoing transformation journey, we are equally focused on densifying and expanding our route network to capture the rapidly growing demand in the market.”
