Air India rejects suggestions that it acts only on VIP complaints
On Tuesday, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu expressed his displeasure with Air India as he missed an important meeting owing to flight delay. AI subsequently ordered a probe in this incident.
Air India on Wednesday rejected suggestions that it acts "only on complaints by VIPs" regarding its services, saying the state-run carrier attends to each and every grievance filed with it through any mode.
"We are responding to every passenger who is contacting us (regarding any complaint)...every email, every message we are responding to," Air Indian Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said on the sidelines of an event here. The airline's chief was responding to allegations that the carrier takes actions on complaints made by the VIPs and not those of ordinary passengers.
Lohani assertion comes a day after Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu lashed out at the flag carrier for delaying a flight due to late arrival of the pilot. The incident prompted the Civil Aviation Ministry to ask Air India order a probe into the incident. The flight could not take off on time as the pilot had got struck in the traffic, the Air India head had said on the delay.
"Air India should explain how such things are happening. Transparency and accountability are the need of the hour," Naidu had tweeted after he missed a meeting due to delay of the flight.Soon after Naidu's tweets, the public carrier had expressed regret for the inconvenience caused, while Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said he had asked Air India to conduct an inquiry and take action.