Civil Aviation Ministry issues stern notices to IndiGo, Mumbai Airport after passengers seen eating on tarmac
The country’s safety regulator has said the situation resulted in an unfavorable, unacceptable experience for the tired and harassed passengers, in utter disregard for laid down security norms.
Source: X
New Delhi, Jan 16: The current fog season is proving to be tough for Indian carriers. A day after a video of an irate passenger hitting an IndiGo captain over a delayed flight went viral, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia has taken strong exception to visuals of the carrier’s passengers forced to have dinner on the tarmac at Mumbai airport, the country’s second busiest aviation hub.
Swinging into action once the clip started doing the rounds on social media, Scindia hurriedly convened a meeting of all key departments under the Ministry of Civil Aviation to discuss the matter and decide on the stringent action to be taken against the carrier and the airport in question, The Assam Tribune has learned.
“The meeting was called at 12.30 am Tuesday,” a person close to the minister informed The Assam Tribune.
After the meeting, the national aviation safety regulator, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) issued notices to officials of IndiGo and Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).
“Both Indigo and MIAL were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport”, stated the strongly worded BCAS notice.
“The aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 (instead of a Contact Stand – an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate), which further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like restrooms and refreshments at the terminal,” it added.
The safety regulator said this resulted in an unfavourable, unacceptable experience for the tired and harassed passengers, with flight operations being planned and executed in utter disregard for passenger convenience, laid down security norms and other operational issues.
IndiGo, MIAL asked to submit replies by Tuesday
A separate notice has been issued to IndiGo for the violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, AvSec Order of February 2019 and order dated September 21, 2021, for failing to observe due aviation security procedures in respect of Goa to Delhi flight, 6E 2195, which landed in Mumbai at 11.21 pm on January 14 following a diversion.
The notice said that Indigo allowed the disembarkation of passengers from flight 6E 2195 to the apron area and then boarded them on flight 6E 2091 (Goa-Delhi) on January 15 at Mumbai airport, without following the procedure of security screening, which was again in violation of the orders mentioned earlier.
In another serious oversight on the part of the carrier, the incident was not reported to BCAS in violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, the notice added.
Confirming receipt of the regulator’s notice, the carrier in a statement to The Assam Tribune said they had “already initiated an internal inquiry to address the issue and will be responding to the notice as per protocol.”
Meanwhile, MIAL has been issued notice for the violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, regarding its failure to report an incident in respect of flight 6E 2195. The Airport Security Group (ASG) in Mumbai was also not forewarned about the situation.
The ministry has asked both parties to furnish their responses by Tuesday, failing which enforcement action including financial penalties would be initiated against them.
