India’s air passengers’ woes seem to have worsened as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) got 57 percent more complaints in FY25, with denial to board a flight dominating the list that includes delays and cancellations.
As many as 9,700 passengers sent complaints to the civil aviation regulator during the year, DGCA data accessed by Moneycontrol shows, even as domestic carriers pump in money to expand operations to meet growing demand.
Domestic airlines paid out Rs 56.9 crore in compensation to passengers, 11 percent more than they did in FY24.
The highest number of complaints were against the cash-strapped SpiceJet and all airlines under the Air India brand, which has faced passengers' ire on social media as well.
There were 3,300 complaints against SpiceJet during the year, 37 percent more than in FY24, the Air India Group ended FY25 with around 3,150, double those of FY24.
The same for IndiGo. Complaints against the country’s biggest airline doubled to 1,700. The country’s youngest airline, Akasa Air, ended the year with around 350 complaints, unchanged from FY24, data released by the DGCA showed.
The Air India Group paid around Rs 45.9 crore in compensation, 50 percent more than FY24. Despite the rise in complaints, SpiceJet and IndiGo saw their compensations fall to Rs 7.81 crore and Rs 40 lakh, respectively. Akasa Air reported a 27 percent rise in compensation paid to travellers at Rs 2.6 crore.
In total, Rs 20 crore was paid as compensation to 20,500 passengers for denial of boarding, Rs 10 crore for flight cancellations and Rs 30 crore for delays in flights, DGCA data shows.
Around 55.5 percent more passengers were denied boarding in FY25 and 60 percent more were hit by flight cancellations. Flight delays, however, saw a drop of 18 percent.
About 38 percent of the complaints were about flight problems, 20.8 percent were related to baggage and 14 percent about refunds, data show
Air India group paid out big fines in FY25
Air India group airline denied boarding to more than 18,058 travellers in FY25 and had to pay Rs 18.6 crore in compensation, far higher than all other airlines combined.
The Tata Group carriers also paid Rs 6.2 crore for flight cancellations and around Rs 21 crore for delays.
Senior executives told Moneycontrol that FY25 was a year of churn for Air India, as multiple airlines merged under a single brand, causing “quite a few” rostering issues that led to increased cancellations and delays.
"Now that roster issues are beyond us and both brands under the Air India umbrella grow, passengers will experience fewer delays and flight cancellations," a senior Air India executive said.
Another executive said as Air India, Vistara and AIX Connect rationalised flight routes in FY25, flights were overbooked with aircraft were being redeployed for better optimisation, leading to passengers being refused boarding.
As Air India and Air India Express, earlier known as AIX Connect, now operate independent fleets with separate rosters, these issues will see a significant fall, the executive said.
Vistara's merger with Air India was completed in November.
The executives spoke on condition of anonymity.
IndiGo has paid just Rs 18,000 in compensation in the past three years despite cancellations affecting more than 6.35 lakh customers during the period.
It paid Rs 40 lakh to around 550 travellers for denying them boarding in FY25. It has paid only Rs 44,000 in the past three years despite flight delays hitting 9.1 lakh customers.
According to a survey done by LocalCircles a staggering 61 percent of air travellers said they faced at least one cancellation or were forced to reschedule due to “internal reasons” without a single case of compensation in the last 12 months.
Around 1,500 passengers were affected due to flight cancellations by SpiceJet in FY25, 60 percent less than the previous year. Similarly, flight delays affected 2.6 lakh passengers, much better than 6.9 lakh in FY24.
Addressing grievances
Air travellers can file complaints through the civil aviation ministry’s Air Sewa platform.
Between January 1, 2021 and December 3, 2024, the portal got 50,620 complaints and resolved 50,539 of them, the ministry data shows.
As complaints grow, the government plans to dedicate more resources and collaborate with airlines to make air travel smooth and safe.
"Last month, the DGCA directed all airlines to disseminate passenger-centric regulations and passenger rights along with air tickets to collect more feedback from Indian customers," a senior ministry official said.
With a sharp uptick in complaints of steep airfares, the government has formed a dedicated Air Sewa cell to address the issue.
"A new cell under the Air Sewa division has been created to monitor complaints of fluctuations in airfares. The new cell will investigate complaints related to a spike in airfares by using a standardised complaint registration format,” the official told Moneycontrol.
Airlines will face action if they raise fares without sharing the details with the DGCA and the ministry, the official said.
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