Air India faces Rs 10 lakh penalty for non-compliance with DGCA's norms

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a financial penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Tata Group-controlled Air India for not complying with its regulations. In a statement, DGCA said it carried out inspections at Delhi, Kochi and Bangalore airports of Scheduled Domestic Operators in May and September in a bid to ascertain the discharge of their obligations related to facilities/compensation provided to the passengers as per provisions laid down in DGCA regulations.

The regulator said during the inspections, it found that Air India was not complying with the provisions of the relevant CAR. Accordingly, a show cause notice was issued to Air India on November 3, 2023, seeking their response for non-compliance to the provisions of the relevant regulations.

Air India in its reply has stated that it has not complied with the provisions of the CAR. The regulator said that it was found that M/s Air India was engaged in providing hotel accommodation for passengers affected by delayed flights, non-training of some of their ground personnel as per the stipulations laid down in the CAR and non-payment of compensation to international business class passengers who were made to travel on unserviceable seats.

Earlier this month, DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India for violations of certain passenger-centric provisions of the Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR). In a statement, 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."

The regulator said that in order to ensure compliance of passenger-centric CARS, it carried out inspections of scheduled domestic airlines at various major airports on a continuing basis since May 2023.

Earlier this month, Air India said it will 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. 

The airline said that it will add more than 400 weekly domestic and international flights during the winter schedule.

The airline has already 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.

“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,” Air India CEO and managing director Campbell Wilson said in a statement issued on November 3.