Flight Delays: Aviation Regulators Impose Hefty Fines On Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet And Mumbai International Airport Ltd

India’s aviation regulators, on Wednesday (17 January), imposed hefty fines totalling Rs 2.70 crore, on three airline services and the Mumbai airport operator, for not following standard operating procedures and security protocols.

Days after a video of IndiGo passengers having food on the Mumbai airport tarmac went viral, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has slapped fines of Rs 1.20 crore on the airline and Rs 60 lakh on Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), while DGCA has imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on the airport operator, according to separate orders.

The aviation regulators had issued show-cause notices to IndiGo and MIAL saying they were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport.

The DGCA, in its order dated 17 January, said the reply to a show-cause notice received was found to be unsatisfactory, as the response submitted by MIAL shows that it has failed to adhere to the safety requirements as laid down in the “Air Safety Circular 04 of 2007”.

The DGCA has imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh each on Air India and SpiceJet, regarding the rostering of pilots during the onset of foggy conditions.

On this issue, the penalty imposed was over failure in complying with instructions issued as per minutes of meeting on low-visibility operations and fog preparedness held on 6 November 2023.

Earlier, the DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to the airlines for rostering “non-CAT III compliant pilots” during low visibility at the Delhi airport, that led to many diversions of Delhi-bound flights.

"After analysing the flight delay/cancellation/diversion-related data submitted by scheduled airlines for December 2023, DGCA found that Air India and SpiceJet did not roster CAT II/III and LVTO qualified pilots for some of the flights,” an official said.

While CAT II/III pertains to operating flights in low-visibility conditions, LVTO refers to low visibility take-off.