Indigo Airlines in trouble: Indigo guilty for not allowing disabled child to board the plane, DGCA seeks reply in 10 days

Aviation regulator DGCA has found Indigo Air Line guilty of not allowing a disabled child to board the plane. A fact-finding committee of DGCA, after investigating the incident, has said in the report that IndiGo’s behavior is not right. The airline did not follow the rules. A show cause notice has also been given to the airline. Time has been given till May 26 for reply. The DGCA said that the proceedings of the committee have been done partly in the open and partly in camera as per the request of the family.

understand the whole matter
Earlier this month on May 7, an IndiGo manager misbehaved with a child with special needs at the Ranchi airport. Abhinandan Mishra, an eyewitness present at the time of the incident, had informed about the incident on social media. He had told that a handicapped child was afraid to board the flight at Ranchi airport. His parents were trying to pacify him. Meanwhile, IndiGo personnel refused to board the child. He argued that this put other passengers at risk.

The airline did not agree even after the protest
He said other passengers opposed it. He also referred to the SC judgment, which said that no airline can discriminate against passengers with disabilities. There was also a group of doctors on the plane, who offered to help if the child had any problem mid-way. Despite this, IndiGo personnel did not allow the child to board the plane. After this matter came to light, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said that there is zero tolerance towards such behavior. The matter is being investigated and appropriate action will be taken.

The airline had apologized
IndiGo had issued a statement quoting its CEO Ronojoy Dutta as saying that ‘Unfortunate incident happened at Ranchi airport on 7th May, when a disabled teenager and his parents could not board the flight to Hyderabad. All the employees of Indigo are worried about this incident. From April 2022 till now, we have flown about 75 thousand differently abled people. Our crew and airport staff are given special training to provide better treatment to passengers with special needs.

The company further said, “During the check-in and boarding process, we obviously wanted to take the family, but the teenager looked very nervous in the boarding area. Although it is our most important responsibility to treat passengers with courtesy and sympathy, but in view of the safety guidelines, the airport staff had to take a difficult decision. After examining all the aspects of this incident, we as an institution have come to the conclusion that we took the best decision in difficult times.