Mumbai: After technical snags, insects seem to have started to haunt Air India that is already under a lot of pressure after the June 12 Ahmedabad crash.
The airline admitted on Monday that two passengers on a flight from San Fransisco to Mumbai via Kolkata had to be shifted mid-air after they spotted a few ‘small cockroaches’ near their allotted seats.
“On flight AI180 from San Francisco to Mumbai via Kolkata, two passengers were unfortunately bothered by the presence of a few small cockroaches on board. Our cabin crew, therefore, relocated the two passengers to other seats in the same cabin, where they were comfortable thereafter,” Air India said in a statement.
“During the flight’s scheduled fuel stop in Kolkata, our ground crew promptly conducted a deep cleaning process to address the issue. The same aircraft subsequently departed in time for Mumbai. Despite our regular fumigation efforts, insects can sometimes enter an aircraft during ground operations. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passengers,” it added.
Air India also said that it has launched a probe into the incident. An official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said that it will take up the issue with the airline as the presence of cockroaches point to lack of hygiene.
“The insects can contaminate food items and that can cause mid-air medical emergencies. The matter will have to be looked into,” the official said.
Air India was in very bad shape till 2022 when the Tatas took over. Given the group’s reputation as a responsible business house, people expected a lot, but little seems to have changed over the last three years.
There are frequent complaints of poor service by passengers. A few months ago, Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to X and revealed how he had been allotted a broken seat on a flight to Delhi.
Last September, a passenger on a Delhi-New York flight reported finding a cockroach in her omelette, following which her child fell ill. Prior to that, a piece of a was found by a passenger in a fig-chaat meal blade on a Bengaluru-San Francisco flight.
