DGCA Gives Air India Show Cause Notice After Death Of An 80 Year Old Passenger

Because there weren’t enough wheelchairs at the Mumbai airport, an 80-year-old passenger decided to walk instead of using one. And now, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) gave Air India a show-cause notice on Friday.

Here’s what happened

Eighty-year-old Babu Patel and his seventy-six-year-old wife, Narmadaben Patel, reportedly asked for wheelchair assistance when they got off Air India’s AI-116 flight from New York. Air India said in a statement on Friday that it had asked the husband to wait because there weren’t enough wheelchairs available, but he decided to walk beside his wife without assistance.

During the immigration procedure at the Mumbai airport, he passed out close to the office of the airport health officer.  “In an unfortunate incident, one of our guests flying from New York to Mumbai on February 12, fell ill while proceeding to clear immigration with his wife, who was on wheelchair,” the airline said.

The airline said that the passenger was taken to the hospital right away after becoming ill, as instructed by the airport physician attending him. There, it was announced that the passenger had passed away.

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Air India gets notice over failure of Wheelchair assistance

Wheelchair assistance is a service provided by the airline, according to a representative of MIAL, the operator of the Mumbai airport.

Air India has received a show-cause notice from the DGCA for violating the 1937 Aircraft Rules and failing to comply with civil aviation requirements. In accordance with CAR Paragraph 4.1.7, airlines are required to offer these passengers full assistance, guaranteeing a smooth journey from the terminal of departure to the aircraft and back again upon arrival.

Seven days have been granted to Air India to reply to the notice and provide an explanation for why it did not follow the rules. In order to stop similar incidents in the future, the DGCA has also sent out a more general advisory to all airlines, asking them to make sure there are enough wheelchairs available to assist passengers during the embarkation and disembarkation processes.