The Directorate General of Civil Aviation issued a show-cause notice to Air India Ltd. on Friday after a flight for San Francisco from New Delhi was rescheduled to 3 p.m. after inordinate delays.
Passengers were deboarded, with some reportedly fainting due to insufficient cooling in the cabin. The airline has offered to reschedule or refund the passengers, according to an NDTV report.
Repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of various civil aviation requirements have "come to our notice." Time and again, the airline is failing to take due care of passengers and in compliance with the CAR provisions, the DGCA said in the notice.
Therefore, Air India is called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action should not be initiated against the airline for the violations, the regulator said.
The aircraft had developed a technical issue and engineering checks were carried out, PTI quoted an unnamed airline official as saying.
Due to the delay, the crew had crossed the flight duty time limitation and if the flight had taken off, it would have reached San Francisco when there are night-landing restrictions there, according to the official.
Visuals posted by many passengers on social media showed people, including children, sitting on the floor.
Delhi has been reeling under heatwave conditions for the past few days, with the mercury touching record levels.
A person named Abhishek Sharma posted on microblogging site X that passengers were deplaned and were not allowed to enter the terminal as immigration procedures were completed.
@airindia please let mine and the numerous other parents stranded at the boarding area go home!
AI 183 is over 8 hrs late. People were made to board the plane and sit without ac. Then deplaned and not allowed to enter the terminal because immigration was done#inhuman pic.twitter.com/0XdDBAovBKIn response, Air India replied, "We understand the inconvenience this delay has caused and sincerely apologise. Our team is dedicated to finding the best possible alternatives for our passengers and ensuring a comfortable journey. Please reach out to our ground team for immediate support."
On May 24, another Air India flight to San Francisco faced a similar delay. Passengers had to wait outside the aircraft for over five hours and it was later rescheduled for the next day. Airline officials had told PTI that the Boeing 777 plane was initially delayed due to a technical glitch.
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