Air India, which is one of the biggest Indian airlines in the country, has found itself in trouble after the United States imposed a whopping fine on the company. The US Department of Transport has decided to impose a fine of USD 121.5 million on Air India.
Tata Group recently acquired Air India, which is among the six airlines that have agreed to cough up a total of over USD 600 million as refunds, according to the US government. Now, Air India has been asked to pay a fine of over Rs 938 crores to the country.
According to the US government, Air India is liable to pay a fine of USD 121.5 million as penalties for extreme delays in providing refunds to passengers due to the cancellation or change in flights, mostly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
US officials further said that the “refund on request” policy of Air India is contrary to the Department of Transportation policy, which mandates air carriers to legally refund tickets in the case of cancellation or change in flight.
According to an official investigation, Air India took more than 100 days to process more than half of the 1,900 refund complaints filed with the Department of Transportation for flights that the carrier cancelled or significantly changed.
As quoted by PTI, the US Transport Department said, “Irrespective of Air India's stated refund policy, in practice, Air India did not provide timely refunds. As a result, consumers experienced significant harm from the extreme delay in receiving their refunds.”
The US government further added, “When a flight gets cancelled, passengers seeking refunds should be paid back promptly. Whenever that doesn't happen, we will act to hold airlines accountable on behalf of American travelers and get passengers their money back.”
Air India is the flag carrier airline of India and was owned by the Government of India previous to the Tata Group. Tata ended up buying a 100 percent stake in Air India earlier this year at the price of Rs 18,000 crore.
(With PTI inputs)
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