New Delhi, 31 May

Aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday issued a show cause notice to Air India for inordinate delay of at least two international flights and failure to take due care of passengers.

The show cause notice also comes at a time when passengers of a San Francisco-bound Air India flight from the national capital, that was originally scheduled to take off around 1530 hours on Thursday, faced a harrowing time due to an inordinate delay. The flight is now scheduled to take on Friday afternoon.

In the show cause notice, the regulator mentioned about 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 24 May.

An official said Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia took cognisance of the flight delays and inconvenience caused to passengers, following which the DGCA issued the show cause notice. Both flights were delayed and passengers were put to discomfort due to insufficient cooling in the cabin.

Further, repeated incidents of passengers being put to discomfort by Air India in violation of DGCA norms have come to the notice of the regulator, as per the show cause notice.

The regulator also noted that Air India is "time and again failing in taking due care of passengers", and not complying with its provisions related to 'Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delays in flights". "Air India is hereby called upon to show cause as to why enforcement action shall not be initiated against the airline," for the violations, the regulator said.