Airlines shall not refuse boarding to any person on the basis of disability or reduced mobility, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Friday. Airlines need to get a person checked by a doctor, who shall categorically state the passenger’s medical condition and whether or not he is fit to fly.
“Airlines shall not refuse carriage of any person on the basis of disability and/or reduced mobility. However, in case, an airline perceives that the health of such a passenger may deteriorate in-flight, the said passenger will have to be examined by a doctor in person — who shall in his/her opinion, categorically state the medical condition and whether the passenger is fit to fly or not,” the aviation regulator said as it amended the Civil Aviation Requirement rules.
After obtaining the medical opinion, the airline shall take an appropriate decision on the carriage of such passenger. “In case of refusal of carriage by the airline, it shall inform the passenger in writing with the reasons therein immediately,” the order added.
The change in rules comes after IndiGo officials barred a specially-abled child from boarding a plane from Ranchi. The incident, which took place in May, caused widespread outrage on social media with Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia promising a probe. The DGCA set up a three-member panel to investigate into the matter. IndiGo, incidentally, was found guilty with its actions being non-confirmatory with the rules.
Air traffic data
Meanwhile, around 1.05 crore people travelled by air in June, down by 9 per cent month-on-month. In May, 1.15 crore people had travelled, DGCA’s monthly report said. For the first six months of the year, over 5.72 crore people travelled, indicating a 67 per cent rise y-o-y.
According to the monthly traffic report, IndiGo carried 59.83 lakh passengers in June and had a 56.9 per cent share of the domestic market. SpiceJet flew 10.02 lakh passengers and Go First flew 9.99 lakh passengers. Vistara, Air India, AirAsia India and Alliance Air carried 9.92 lakh, 7.83 lakh, 5.9 lakh, 1.2 lakh passengers, respectively.
SpiceJet had the highest occupancy rate/ load factor at 84.1 per cent last month; followed by Vistara at 83.8 per cent. Interestingly, Air Asia had the best on-time performance of 89.8 per cent at four metro airports — Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai.