DGCA show cause Air India as Tatas struggle to revamp airline
DGCA) on Friday issued a show cause notice to Air India over recent incidents of long flight delays in which passengers ostensibly faced significant discomfort, which the regulator said were in violation of various norms prescribed by it.
The aviation regulator 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.
“It has come to the notice of DGCA that flight Al-179 dated 24.05.2024 and flight Al-183 dated 30.05.2024 were inordinately delayed and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin, " the show cause notice reviewed by ET said.
The regulator said that repeated incidences of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of various DGCA CAR provisions have come to notice.
Customers flying on Air India flights to North America have been raising issues about frequent delays, broken seats or non-functional in-flight entertainment screens as the Tata group struggles to revamp the airline's fleet some of which are 15 years old.
These routes generated the highest revenue for the airline.
The salt to steel conglomerate took control of the airline in January 2022.
While the airline had undertaken a $ 400 million investment to revamp 40 Boeing 777 and 787 planes planes starting mid 2024, it has been delayed to 2025 due to a global supply chain crisis where suppliers are struggling to provide parts.
To tide over this, the airline had leased 11 aircraft which were
