1,000 complaints against Air India in three months: Centre

Around 1,000 passenger complaints have been received against Tata Group-owned Air India during the last three months, minister of state for civil aviation V K Singh said on Monday.

 Around 1,000 passenger complaints have been received against Tata Group-owned Air India during the last three months, minister of state for civil aviation V K Singh said on Monday.

The Tata Group on January 27 took control of Air India after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

The complaints were related to issues such as refund of fares, overbooking of flights and staff behaviour among others, he added.

The Tata Group on January 27 took control of Air India after winning the bid for the airline on October 8 last year.

“Ministry of Civil Aviation has been receiving grievances related to air transport, including Air India, on the various issues such as refund of fares, flight issues, staff behaviour, baggage issues, overbooking of flights, etc. Around 1,000 such complaints were received against Air India during the last three months,” Singh said in a written reply to a question by Dr Anil Agarwal.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had carried out audits of scheduled domestic airlines at various airports in May and June this year, Singh said. “During such an audit, Air India was found in non compliance with the regulations in place in this regard and accordingly a penalty was imposed on Air India as per the laid down provisions,” he added.

The DGCA had on June 14 had fined Air India ₹10 lakh for not compensating passengers denied boarding on overbooked flights.