Air India fined Rs 10 lakh for non-provision of hotels, not paying compensation to passengers

Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the regulator for airports and airlines, said it has imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakhs on Air India for failure to meet certain norms, including a failure to provide hotel accommodation to those affected by flight delays.

“Air India has not complied with the provisions of the CAR, inter-alia, not 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,” the regulator said.

DGCA said the action was taken after keeping in mind a reply furnished by Air India to a show cause notice issued by the agence on Nov 3.

The show cause notice was issued after DGCA carried out inspections at airports in Delhi, Kochi and Bangalore Airports in May and September to “ascertain the discharge of their obligations related to facilities/compensation provided to the passengers as per provisions laid down in DGCA regulations”.

During the inspections of the airlines, it was observed that Air India was not complying with the provisions.

Founded in 1932 as Tata Airlines, the company was renamed Air India in 1946 after being nationalized.

After flying high for several decades, the the airline started facing increased competition from private players in India in the last two decades, and struggled financially for many years due to slow decision-making and poor management under the government.

In October 2021, after multiple attempts at privatization over the years, the Government of India announced that the Tata Group has won the bid to acquire Air India. The airline is currently under a turn-around program.