Airlines can’t refuse to fly coffins: Govt

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel asks the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to give strict instructions to all airlines to ensure that they do not refuse to carry coffins. Samiran Saha reports.

Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on Wednesday asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to give strict instructions to all airlines to ensure that they do not refuse to carry coffins as was recently done by Jetlite, the low cost arm of India’s Jet Airways. Patel said this while chairing a meeting of consultative committee.

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Jetlite officials had recently refused to carry a coffin on their Delhi-Dibrugarh flight to which one of the members of the aviation consultative committee took serious objection.

No official from Jetlite was available to comment on why the airlines refused to carry the coffin. Usually, airlines usually do not refuse it on humanitarian grounds.

According to the government release, “On the issue raised by a member about a private sector airlines refusing to carry a coffin, the minister has directed the DGCA to give strict instructions to all airlines and issue a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) to ensure that no airlines refuses such a request unless on technical grounds.”