India-West News Desk
NEW DELHI – India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation has issued a show cause notice to Air India following significant delays and passenger discomfort on two of its flights due to insufficient cooling in the aircraft cabins. Delhi is undergoing serious heat wave conditions.
The DGCA stated that flight AI-179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24, and flight AI-183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30, were inordinately delayed, causing discomfort to passengers. The regulatory body noted that Air India had violated regulations regarding facilities to be provided to passengers in cases of denied boarding, flight cancellations, and delays.
One passenger on the delayed Air India flight to San Francisco reported that several people fainted inside the aircraft due to a lack of air conditioning following a delay of more than eight hours. The flight, initially scheduled to depart on the afternoon of June 6, was rescheduled to take off at 11 a.m. on June 7, resulting in a delay exceeding 20 hours.
The Indian carrier has now apologized for the lapse in service and the inconvenience caused to passengers after the San Francisco flight got delayed by several hours, and has offered a travel voucher of $350 each to the passengers.
Shweta Punj, a journalist who shared the incident reported that flight AI-183 experienced an over eight-hour delay on May 30. Passengers were made to board the plane and endure the discomfort of sitting without air conditioning at Delhi airport.
“AI 183 flight has been delayed for over 8 hours, passengers were made to board the plane without air conditioning and then deplaned after some people fainted in the flight. This is inhuman!” Punj stated in a series of tweets.
She added, “While growing up, I would often travel Air India. When I moved to the US in the mid-2000s, it was my airline of choice. The choice was largely driven by a feeling of homesickness and patriotism. The airline wasn’t as plush but wasn’t as broken either.”
In a tweet on Friday morning, Punj mentioned that passengers were sent to a hotel late the previous night, told to return to the airport at 8:00 a.m., and then asked to go back to the hotel. “The situation it created for its passengers could have been grounds for a lawsuit for endangering lives in any other country. But that’s another battle.” (with news agency inputs)
