Airlines find themselves powerless

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation says that it has issued directives to all airlines to tackle fog-related problems, reports Sidhartha Roy.

The AIR Deccan counter at Delhi Airport was a scene of chaos on Tuesday with passengers besieging the enquiry counter for information about delayed and cancelled flights.

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Angry passengers repeatedly banged the counter window and shouted at the airline staff.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation said it had issued directives to all airlines in November itself to tackle fog-related problems. Two of the five directives had asked the airlines to augment their staff strength to deal with passenger problems.

“The airlines were asked to deploy additional staff to assist passengers stranded during the fog,” a senior DGCA official said. “They were also supposed to help passengers by taking them to the nearest comfortable space, provide them with telephone facilities and refreshments,” he said.

But as any passenger who has been to the airport in the past few days would testify, nothing of the above has come to pass.

“The airline staff were extremely rude and did not entertain any enquiries about flight cancellations. Only two staff members were present at the counter to answer the crowd. Obviously they were unable to cope,” said Sunaina Garg, who was traveling to Kolkata on Tuesday.

The DGCA had also directed airline operators to station one senior and responsible officer at the airport to coordinate with the Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited, Met department and Air Traffic Control. However, most airlines have not done so, a senior DGCA official said.

“These same airlines offer discounted tickets and try to woo passengers with fancy schemes during normal times. And now they are treating their passengers like cattle,” said Jayant Sharma, a Safdarjang Enclave resident, who was traveling to Mumbai.

The airlines, however, claimed they are following the DGCA directives. “We have deployed extra staff to help our passengers
and had, in fact, done so even before the directive. We have extra cabin crew to man ticket counters,” said Air Deccan
spokeswoman Vijaya Menon.

“Though we have not brought additional staff, we have cancelled all leaves of our employees, including ex-pats. Two of our general managers, who usually sit at the headquarters, are now available at the airport,” SpiceJet spokesman Ajay Jasra said.