Days after a video of passengers having food on Mumbai airport tarmac, and reports of airlines failing to comply with the rostering of pilots for operating flights in low visibility conditions, the Aviation regulators Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) and Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) slapped penalties totalling Rs 2.70 crore.
While Mumbai airport operator MIAL and Indigo were fined, Rs 60 lakh and Rs 1.20 crore respectively, after a video of passengers having food on the tarmac surfaced, a penalty of Rs 30 lakh each on Air India and SpiceJet was slapped for their failure to comply with the rostering of pilots for operating flights in low visibility conditions by the DGCA.
On January 14, many passengers rushed out of an IndiGo aircraft at the Mumbai airport, sat on the tarmac, and some were also seen having food there as soon as their diverted Goa-Delhi flight landed after a long delay.
IndiGo fined
While penalising IndiGo, BCAS said the airline did not report the incident to it and failed to respond to the emergent situation in a responsible and efficient manner. The regulator also said that IndiGo failed to "ensure security screening of passengers and their cabin baggage before embarkation and protect passengers and their baggage from unlawful interference from the point of screening to boarding of aircraft at Mumbai airport".
Further, it said the airline did not take all security measures required and deploy security staff as per the prescribed scale for the given situation.
(With PTI inputs)
