NEEDS TO BE SEEN HOW AIRLINE TAKES OFF FROM THIS DRENCH

After facing turbulent weather for decades as far as economic issues are concerned, it seemed Air India was set for good times in all aspects. Once the ‘national carrier’, Air India, was in deep red thanks to the recession, the pandemic and for several other issues… finally it had the Tatas to their rescue and one look at the economic status just prior to that would give you how dismal the picture was… Air India had reported a net loss of Rs 5,422.6 crore during the first half of financial year 2021-22 as against a loss of Rs 3,779.26 crore in the yearago period. The airline’s total revenue, however, grew to Rs 5,524.23 crore during April-September 2021 from Rs 4,578.49 crore during the year-ago period, as per an exchange filing. Total expenses of the then national carrier stood at Rs 10,946.83 crore during the period under review as compared with Rs 8,357.75 crore during April-September 2020. On August 31, 2021, the airline’s total debt was pegged at Rs 61,562 crore. Air India also had about Rs 15,000 crore excess liabilities towards (unpaid) fuel bills and other operational creditors.

Tatas took over the airline in probably the most turbulent times ever. Even after its merger with Indian Airlines in 2007-08, the airline, it may be recalled, could not make a profit and on the contrary, it reported a loss of Rs 7,017 crore in the financial year 2021. Already saddled with Himalayan problems, the airline couldn’t even dream in its nightmare for more! In fact, soon after the Peegate shame that rocked the nation, the Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had slapped another notice on Air India for two incidents onboard its December 6 flight AI142 from Paris to Delhi wherein a passenger had smoked inside the lavatory and another peed over a woman’s blanket! A show cause notice has been served to the airline for not reporting the incident until January 5, 2023. Response of Air India has been lackadaisical and delayed, said DGCA. Air India’s handling of an incident in which an inebriated male flier allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger clearly reveals the urgent need for rules which would be stricter to handle with unruly passengers. Cases of “inappropriate” conduct on flights by passengers have gone up… and probably many don’t get reported… who knows that is because of several hassles the airline has to go through which can also hurt its commercial prospects.

BUT WHY THIS SILENCE...?

Airlines are often afraid of bad press in reports of unruly behaviour that makes it to the national headlines. The crew and pilots may also fear that there could be counter complaints from passengers, So, despite the fact that the DGCA had released the guidelines to deal with unruly passengers six years ago, only a handful of cases have been reported. The DGCA framed the rules in 2017 after the then Shiv Sena MP, Ravindra Gaikwad, assaulted an Air India staff member. Under these rules, unruly behaviour by a passenger onboard (a flight) is a punishable offence. In fact, lodging an FIR in all cases of unruly behaviour by passengers onboard flights should be made compulsory under CAR, 2017. The guidelines say that all airlines need to have a manual on how to deal with unruly passengers, clarifying the role of the ground staff, crew members, airline airport manager, airline central operation control and so on. The guidelines say, unruly behaviour of passengers could be the result of “unsatisfactory service/ condition or effect of a series of such events that build up”. Crew members need to identify early signs and deal with such passengers rather than allow situations to escalate. What constitutes an offence needs to be clearly displayed to the passenger at prominent locations in the airport terminal building.

ROBIN ROY
The writer is Senior Journalist and former Managing Editor, First India