MoCA issues show cause notices to Indigo and Mumbai Airport for viral video of passengers eating on tarmac

New Delhi, Jan 16:  After a video of passengers eating on the tarmac at Mumbai Airport went viral on social media, the Union Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia held a meeting with all ministry officials at midnight on Monday.

In the early hours of Tuesday, MoCA's (Ministry of Civil Aviation) Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) issued show-cause notices to Indigo and Mumbai Airport.

According to the notices, "both Indigo and Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) were not proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport".

For instance, "the aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 (instead of a Contact Stand - an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate), which further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like restrooms and refreshments at the terminal".

This resulted in an unfavourable, unacceptable experience for the tired and harassed passengers. The flight operation was planned and executed without taking passengers' convenience, security norms and operational issues into account.

Concerning Indigo, a show cause notice has been issued for the violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023, regarding failure to observe due aviation security procedures in respect of Flight no 6E 2195 which landed at Mumbai Airport at 2321 hrs. on January 14 as a diversion case.

The notice says that Indigo allowed the disembarkation of passengers from flight 6E 2195 onto the apron and then boarded them on to flight 6E 2091 on January 15 at Mumbai airport, without following the procedure of security screening, which violates the above-mentioned orders.

Further, the incident was not reported to BCAS by the aircraft operator which is attributed to a violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023.

Concerning MIAL, a show-cause notice for the violation of Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 has been issued regarding failure to report an incident in respect of Flight no 6E 2195 which landed at the Mumbai Airport. The ASG of Mumbai was also not forewarned about the situation.

In the case of both notices, MoCA has asked for replies by Tuesday. If replies are not received in the given time, then enforcement action including financial penalty will be initiated.