After air-carrier IndiGo denied boarding to a specially-abled child created much uproar, the Director General of Civil Aviation deputed a three member team to probe the incident at the Ranchi airport. The team will look into the operational and legal aspects, including applicability of the “regulations for carriage of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility“, the Indian express reported.
The probe was ordered after the aviation safety regulator was not satisfied with IndiGo’s report on the incident.
The probe will decide whether IndiGo staffs followed the applicability of the regulations detailing requirements for carriage of persons with disability or reduced mobility and if any short-comings were found during the search on the part of the airline staff involved in the incident, IndiGo will be penalised, the official informed. The report by the probe team needs to be submitted by May 16.
Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) (Section 3, Series ‘M’, Part I), lays down “regulations for carriage of persons with disabilities and reduced mobility by air” so that they receive all possible assistance during travel and are not discriminated against by other passengers.
The section says that no airline can refuse to carry persons with disability or reduced mobility and their “assistive aids/ devices, escorts and guide dogs” and their presence in the cabin provided they have mentioned about it prior to the airlines. Also, icase the airlines refuses to carry such a passenger it must specify in writing the basis of such refusal including how transportation of such persons would or might be inimical to the safety of flight.
The probe team will visit the parents of the specially-abled child who are based in Ranchi and Hyderabad and collect video evidence from airports, and talk to co-passengers to get a detailed perspective of the incident.
IndiGo, on the other hand, maintained that all staff who handle customers take a disability sensitization programme and a refresher every two years for disability assistance. The airline, however, did not respond if it has considered the CAR regulations on “carriage of persons with disabilities” and has received any orders from DGCA over this incident.
IndiGo CEO-Ronojoy Dutta stood by his staff’s decision. and said that they made the “best possible decision” under difficult circumstances”. He further claimed that the teenager was “visibly in panic” which forced the staff “to make a difficult decision.”
IndiGo in its statement cited DGCA’s guidelines on handling ”unrully passengers” that states that such passengers must be “carefully monitored, and if deemed to pose a threat to the safety and security of the flight, fellow passengers or staff while on board, should be refused embarkation or off-loaded.”
