 "Air India")
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has slapped a Rs 30 lakh fine on Air India over two weeks after the death of an 80-year-old passenger at Mumbai Airport.
The octogenarian had decided to walk from the Air India aircraft to the terminal on February 12 after the airline couldn’t provide a wheelchair he had requested. A few minutes later, the American citizen of Indian origin collapsed and died after suffering a heart attack.
Despite having booked two wheelchairs for himself and his wife, only one was available at the plane’s exit gate. His wife took the wheelchair. He preferred to walk alongside her rather than wait for another wheelchair.
After this incident, the aviation regulator had issued a show cause notice to Air India for not complying with its regulations.
DGCA rules say that that once persons with disability (Divyangjan) or reduced mobility report at the airport with valid booking and intention to travel, the airline “must provide assistance to meet their particular needs and ensure their seamless travel from the departure terminal of the departing airport up to the aircraft and at the end of the journey from the aircraft to the arrival terminal exit, without any additional expenses”.
Air India had on February 20 submitted its response to the DGCA, stating that “the elderly passenger wished to walk along with his wife who was on a wheelchair too, rather than wait for another wheelchair”.
However, according to the regulator, the airline failed to show compliance of the regulations as it did not provide any wheelchair to the elderly passenger.
“Further, Air India did not inform about any action taken by the airline against the erring employee(s) and the airline also failed to submit any corrective actions taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future,” it added.
Accordingly, a financial penalty of Rs 30 lakh has been imposed on Air India as per Aircraft Rules, 1937 for violating the provisions of the aforementioned regulation, it mentioned.
“An advisory has also been issued to all airlines to ensure that adequate number of wheelchairs are available for passengers who require assistance during embarking or disembarking from the aircraft during their journey,” DGCA said.
The Tata Group-run airline has faced the regulator’s ire earlier too. In January, Air India was told to pay a Rs 30 lakh fine for not rostering sufficient trained pilots to land on low visibility (CAT-III landings).
CAT-III instrument landing system is used at major airports across India to allow pilots to land aircraft when visibility is as low as 50 metres. However, a pilot must be trained to use this system. In January, hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled across the country due to dense fog.
In June 2023, the DGCA had suspended two Air India pilots -- a captain for one year and co-pilot for one month -- for allowing an unauthorised person in the cockpit during the airline’s Chandigarh-Leh flight on June 3.
A similar incident had taken place on the airline’s Delhi-Dubai flight on February 27, 2023, when its captain had allowed a female friend in the plane's cockpit. The DGCA had in April 2023 suspended this captain for three months and warned the co-pilot as he was not assertive to prevent this violation.
In January 2023, the DGCA had fined Air India Rs 30 lakh for lapses in handling an incident where a man urinated on a woman co-passenger on a New York to Delhi flight.
In June 2022, the regulator had fined Air India Rs 10 lakh for not giving required compensation to passengers with valid tickets who were denied boarding.
