With some of its ultra-long-haul flights facing inordinate delays recently, a senior Air India official has said the handling of things on the customer front could have been better and that efforts are on to strengthen the ground staff.
The official, who did not want to be quoted, said there were many compounding factors, including technical issues with the aircraft as well as extreme heat, that resulted in flights getting delayed or canceled.
At least four ultra long haul flights of Air India — AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24, AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30, AI 185 from Delhi to Vancouver on June 1 and 2 — faced inordinate delays.
The handling of the things on the customer front could have been better. “Hotels, meals and compensation were provided but we will look at how we can do that faster and better,” the official told PTI.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the official also said strict SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) have been issued to the airport management team.
“We need to look at whether the SOPs are being followed diligently and whether people on the ground are exercising their right judgment”.
According to the official, the ground staff have specific accountability and that the airline has recruited people to be dedicatedly focused on ground operations.
On May 31, aviation regulator DGCA issued a show cause notice to Air India for some flight delays and failure to take due care of the passengers.
The inordinate delay of two international flights — AI 183 from Delhi to San Francisco on May 30 and AI 179 from Mumbai to San Francisco on May 24 — was mentioned in the show cause notice.
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