Air India has been issued a notice by the Aviation Ministry following a 20-hour delay on a Delhi-San Francisco flight, which left passengers in distress. The incident occurred as passengers were seen lying down along an aerobridge corridor at Delhi airport, with many complaining about fainting due to lack of air-conditioning inside the plane.
The flight delay was attributed to “operational reasons,” and by the time the issue was resolved, flight duty time limitations came into effect, according to Air India sources.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has demanded an explanation from Air India regarding the lack of proper arrangements to mitigate passenger discomfort in Delhi’s sweltering heat, which has reached nearly 50 degrees Celsius.
The DGCA’s show-cause notice highlighted the airline’s repeated failures to ensure passenger care and compliance with regulations concerning denied boarding, flight cancellations, and delays.
The notice stated, “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.” The regulator further emphasised Air India’s persistent negligence in providing necessary facilities to passengers during such incidents. Air India has been given three days to respond to the notice, failing which enforcement action may be initiated against the airline.
The flight in question, AI 183, was supposed to take off at around 3:30 pm on Thursday but faced a six-hour delay before being rescheduled. Initially, a technical glitch required a change of aircraft. However, the replacement plane’s air-conditioning system was not functioning, causing several passengers, including elderly individuals and children, to feel faint and uneasy.
One woman passenger described the ordeal, stating that passengers boarded the new aircraft around 7:20 pm for a revised departure time of 8 pm. With the air-conditioning system still not working, passengers became agitated and eventually left the plane. They had to wait for nearly an hour in the aerobridge before being allowed back into the airport.
The DGCA’s notice to Air India calls for immediate attention to the airline’s operational practices and passenger care protocols, ensuring such incidents are not repeated in the future.
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