Airlines will have to compensate delays, cancellations: Patel

Airlines will soon have to compensate passengers for delaying/cancelling flights or denying them boarding passes, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha today.

In what is seen as a move to protect the interests of passengers, the minister said that the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is in the process of finalising a Civil Aviation Rule (CAR), and the comments received on the draft CAR are being compiled.

"After the enforcement of CAR, airlines will be required to pay compensation and/or provide facilities to the passengers in case of denied boarding, cancellations and delays of flights," Patel said.

The Civil Aviation Minister also said that 11 airports in the country have been marked as 'critical airports from the flight operations' point of view'. He was replying to another question, asked in the wake of the May 22 Mangalore air crash.

"The inspection of these airports is being carried by a team of officials from DGCA, and reports are being forwarded to the respective aerodrome operators," he said.

Patel said that the Mangalore airport had a valid licence on May 22, when the Air India Express flight crashed there. "The aerodrome was issued with a licence in December 2009, which was valid on the date of the accident," he said.

The "DGCA has issued licences to 14 airports for scheduled flight operations, of which five are operated by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and nine by others," he added.

Replying to a separate question, Patel said that 29 incidents of tyre burst were reported to the DGCA in the last three years.