Air India is under fire for the second time in thirteen months for its inability to provide a wheelchair in time to a passenger.
While the airline has refuted the latest allegations, the excessive demand for wheelchairs has prompted Air India to relook at its policies and processes. AISATS, which provides ground handling service to Air India and other airlines has also introduced a digital solution for better planning and deployment of wheelchairs at Hyderabad and Delhi airports.
On an average a single long haul flight of Air India has around 40 wheelchair passengers. The demand varies as per destination and is the highest for US, UK and Canada routes.
Flight delays or change in boarding gates pose another challenge. To overcome it, AISATS has tied up with a firm called Rsmart to implement a digital management system for passengers with reduced mobility.
“The technology represents a significant advancement from previous manual processes and provides our teams with real-time visibility of resources on their mobile devices. It enables dynamic resource allocation in response to flight schedule changes, gate reassignments and fluctuating demand. The initial implementation has already shown some positive results in Hyderabad and Delhi,” said an AISATS spokesperson. It will also assist in service quality monitoring in the near future, he added.
There is now greater oversight as well as changes in procedures since last year. For instance, in Mumbai duties of wheelchair attendants have been reassigned. One attendant carries a passenger from the arrival gate to the immigration desk. Thereafter another attendant takes the passenger to baggage reclaim and beyond. This way Air India is able to utilise the manpower in a more efficient way especially during the morning peak hour.
Air India does not levy a fee for wheelchairs given to old and infirm travellers and those with a medical condition. While medically unfit passengers are required to fill up a form which is evaluated by Air India doctors, in most cases no proof is asked or shared. As such maximum requests are for those who need wheel chair till the the aircraft and not those for those who are completely immobile.
“The problem is that by law we can’t ask for any evidence of actual need in order to prioritise genuine cases,” an Air India official said. “We are looking at what we can do (about wheelchair policy) but our hands are tied by a lot of regulations,” he added.
“Was fined ₹30 lakh by DGCA “
An octogenarian passenger named Raj Pasricha fell inside the Delhi airport after waiting for a wheelchair for one hour on March 4.
Pasricha was flying to Bengaluru and had booked a wheelchair in advance. The woman’s grand daughter Parul Kanwar has alleged no proper medical check up was done at Delhi after her fall and she was attended to by a doctor in Bengaluru who gave her stitches. Pasricha is now in a hospital ICU under observation. Air India has denied all the claims regarding on hour wait time and denial of medical assistance.
Last year the airline was fined ₹30 lakh by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation after a passenger fell to death after waiting for a wheelchair at Mumbai airport. Following the Mumbai incident a show cause notice was issued and an inquiry initiated. The regulator also issued an advisory to all airlines to ensure sufficient wheelchairs for passengers.