AI rejects charges of flying 'outdated' aircraft
Kozhikode, Sept. 6 (PTI): Asserting that it was not flying "outdated" aircraft, India's national carrier Air India today said it was operating flights strictly adhering to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation rules.
"While AI Express planes, operating primarily from South to various Gulf destinations, were acquired less than three years ago, aircraft operating from other places were purchased after 1996," AI's official spokesman Aby George told PTI.
Rejecting charges raised by 'Kerala Pravasi Association' that AI was operating "outdated aircraft" from the Karipur international airport here, he said the 43 Express planes put in service from the airport were less than three years old with some of them acquired as recently as eight months ago.
The Association has recently charged AI with providing "extremely poor" services by running outdated aircraft that pose severe danger to lives of passengers and also cancelling or postponing flights quite frequently.
"There could be some error regarding the flight schedules. But we have call centres to inform the traveller about the change well in advance. Those who do not enroll their personal telephone numbers can face trouble as they depend on agents in such occasions," he said.
"To address the issue more effectively, we have now started the practice of sending SMS to communicate flight delays immediately. Also, we are maintaining standby aircraft to be put in service whenever the delay is extraordinary," he added.
National
