Air India Wheelchair Incident: Govt Issues Show Cause Notice

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the ministry was looking into the complaint of non-availability of a pre-booked wheelchair by Air India to an 82-year-old woman passenger at Delhi airport, and a show cause notice will be issued to the airline.

Replying to supplementaries during question hour in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said aviation regulator DGCA has spoken to the family of the passenger and the airlines, and is looking into the CCTV footage to ascertain what exactly had happened.

Noting that it was a "very unfortunate incident", he said the ministry has immediately taken cognisance of it and is looking into the incident.

In civil aviation guidelines, every airline has to provide wheelchair support to whoever requires it.

"Regarding this incident, we are going indepth and verifying as to what exactly happened. There are always two different versions, one is from the family and the DGCA has spoken to the family members and taken their story, and from the airlines.

"We are issuing a show cause notice to the airlines. We will be taking action as per the show cause notice, whatever we get. We are taking the CCTV footage to find out exactly what has happened. I can assure the member that we are looking into the issue," Naidu said.

After a complaint about non-availability of a pre-booked wheelchair that resulted in the fall of an elderly woman passenger at the Delhi airport, Air India had said that wheelchair or assistance was not denied to the passenger at any point in time and first aid was given immediately.

The incident happened on March 4 at the Delhi airport, and the passenger later boarded the flight to Bengaluru.

In a post on X, the granddaughter of the 82-year-old passenger said her grandmother was treated poorly by the airline and claimed that she was not allocated a wheelchair for almost an hour.

As per the post on March 7, the passenger managed to enter the airport on foot, but still, no wheelchair or assistance was provided, and she suffered a fall.

Issuing a detailed statement after investigating the incident, Air India on Saturday (March 8) said the family members accompanying the passenger had reported at the PRM (Person with Reduced Mobility) desk located near Air India's ticketing office less than 90 minutes before the scheduled time of departure to request for a wheelchair.

The granddaughter also mentioned in the post that complaints were lodged with DGCA and Air India and action was awaited.

To another question on complaints of clogged toilets in a Chicago flight of Air India, which had to return after eight hours of flying, the minister said the ministry was looking into the same too and appropriate steps would be taken.

"We are definitely looking into it. The airlines are there to cater to the services of people. We are there to look into such issues," he said.

"The DGCI is inspecting this issue. We will see necessary guidelines are issued in future so that there can be some kind of decorum for passengers who travel. We will see what can be done," the minister said.

After complaints that its Delhi-bound aircraft returned to Chicago due to unserviceable lavatories, Air India said its probe found that polythene bags, rags, and clothes had been flushed down and were stuck in the plumbing.

On March 6, AI126 from Chicago to Delhi returned to the US city after being airborne for more than 10 hours and on that day, the airline said the air return was due to a technical issue.

The same day, a source aware of the development told PTI that the aircraft had to return, as several lavatories were clogged.

In a detailed statement on the air return of AI126, Air India had said that about an hour and forty-five minutes into the flight, the crew reported some of the lavatories in Business and Economy Class to be unserviceable.

"Subsequently, eight of the 12 lavatories in the aircraft became unserviceable, causing discomfort to all on board," the statement said.