The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a penalty of `10 lakh on Air India for not reporting on time against two unruly passengers on a Paris-Delhi flight (AI-142) of December 6, 2022.
According to the DGCA, apart from not reporting the incident on time, the airline also delayed referring the matter to its Internal Committee. This is the second time in less than a week that the DGCA has taken enforcement action against the airline in connection with unruly passenger behaviour.
Meanwhile Air India on Tuesday said it has closed the internal probe into the urination case and will assist the flight’s Pilot-in-Command with an appeal against the suspension of his licence by DGCA.
The airline deems the action as “excessive”.
An inebriated passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory and not following crew instructions on this flight while another passenger had allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of a fellow female passenger when she had gone to the lavatory.
The DGCA said the incidents of passenger misbehaviour occurred on the AI-142 flight from Paris to New Delhi on December 6, 2022. It came to the notice of the regulator only this month. “DGCA (had) issued a show cause notice to the accountable manager of Air India as to why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations