Air India Gets DGCA Notice After 20-hour Delay In International Flight; Details Inside

New Delhi: In a significant development amid the Air India flight delays, aviation watchdog DGCA has issued a show cause notice to the airline on Friday for the inordinate delay of at least two international flights and the failure to take due care of passengers. The show cause notice also comes at a time when passengers on a San Francisco-bound Air India flight from the national capital, which was originally scheduled to take off around 1530 hours on Thursday, faced a harrowing time due to an inordinate delay.
In the show cause notice, the regulator mentioned the inordinate delay of two international flights: AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24.
“It has come to the notice of DGCA that flights were inordinately delayed and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin. Further, repeated incidences of passengers being put to discomfort by M/s Air India in violation of various DGCA CAR provisions have come to notice,” the ministry said in its show-cause notice.
“Now, therefore, 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. The reply of Air India should reach this office within 03 days from the date of issue of this notice, failing which, the matter would be processed ex-parte,” the ministry added.
An official said Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia took cognisance of the flight delays and inconvenience caused to passengers, following which the DGCA issued the show cause notice. Both flights were delayed and passengers felt discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin. Further, repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of DGCA norms have come to the notice of the regulator, as per the show cause notice.
The regulator also noted that Air India is “time and again failing in taking due care of passengers”, and not complying with its provisions related to ‘facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights”.
“Air India is hereby called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airline” for the violations, the regulator said.
(With inputs from agencies)