Second time in 1.5 years: DGCA issues notice to Air India for not providing required relief to passengers

NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued a show cause notice to Air India for reportedly not providing mandatory facilities to passengers who are denied boarding or whose flights are delayed/cancelled. This is the second action against the airline for the same reason within 1.5 years. Last June the regulator had fined Air India Rs 10 lakh for violating rules for denying boarding and had ordered it “to immediately put systems in place to resolve the issue, failing which further action shall be taken.”
But on Tuesday the DGCA issued a statement which shows that the last year’s directive has not yet been compiled with.

“In order to ensure compliance of passenger-centric (rules), DGCA carried out inspections of scheduled domestic airlines at various major airports on a continuing basis since May 2023. During the inspections of airlines, it was observed that Air India was not complying with the provisions of the relevant (rule). Accordingly, a Show Cause Notice has been issued to Air India seeking their response for non-compliance to the provisions,” the statement said.

“DGCA considers it imperative to continuously strengthen the rights of passengers and ensure that airlines operate under harmonised conditions in line with best global practices. Accordingly, DGCA had issued (rules regarding ‘Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights’ in 2010 (revised from time-to-time) to ensure appropriate protection for air travellers in case of flight disruptions and, in particular, denied boardings, flight cancellations and delays,” the statement added
Comments have been sought from Air India on this latest DGCA show cause and are awaited.
Similar inspections had earlier been carried out at major airports last year also and on ground of similar non-compliance by Air India for rules regarding Denied Boarding of passengers, a penalty of Rs 10 lakh was imposed on Air India for the violations.