(Representative Photo)An Air India flight from Delhi that was to leave for San Francisco on Thursday was delayed by over 24 hours, and passengers were allegedly made to board the flight and sit without any air conditioning, due to which some of them fainted.
The DGCA in its notice 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.
Further, it said that repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of DGCA norms have come to the notice of the regulator.
“Air India is hereby called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airlines for the violations,” the regulator said.
Prakash Mohan Tripathi, 75, who is travelling with his wife to San Francisco called the experience “traumatic”.
New Delhi: Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show cause notice to Air India on Friday for inordinate delay of at least two international flights and failure to take due care of passengers. (Representative Photo)
An Air India flight from Delhi that was to leave for San Francisco on Thursday was delayed by over 24 hours, and passengers were allegedly made to board the flight and sit without any air conditioning, due to which some of them fainted.
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According to stranded passengers, the flight, which was originally scheduled to take off at 3:20pm on Thursday from Delhi, will now take off at 7pm on Friday.
The DGCA in its notice 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.
According to the show cause notice, both flights were delayed and passengers were put in discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin.
Further, it said that repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of DGCA norms have come to the notice of the regulator.
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 airlines for the violations,” the regulator said. Several passengers shared their ordeals and termed the experience as “inhuman”.
Prakash Mohan Tripathi, 75, who is travelling with his wife to San Francisco called the experience “traumatic”. He said that after a delay of over eight hours on Thursday, the passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning, and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight.
“The aircraft was boiling. Some people even fainted. Children were crying due to the heat. It was an inhuman experience for the passengers… We were sent to a hotel late last night and were asked to be back at 8:00am to the airport. We were told to go back to the hotel again and now we have been told that the flight may take off by 7pm. We are still waiting,” he said.
Relatives of many passengers also social networking site X expressing their anger.
Tagging Air India, another person, Parush Garg, said on X, “My parents got stuck in this flight due to your delay of more than 8 hours with no AC working and flight was changed to 20 hours later with an additional aircraft change. Is this how you treat people, especially senior citizens?”
