The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Go Air for violation of rules. On January 9, a Go Air flight on the Bengaluru-Delhi route took off leaving behind 55 passengers in the passenger coach at the Bengaluru airport. The aviation regulator had issued a show-cause notice to the Accountable Manager of Go First, asking as to why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations.

Officials said that Go First had submitted its reply to the notice on January 25. "Perusal of the reply of Go First reveals that there was improper communication and coordination between the terminal coordinator (TC), commercial staff and crew regarding boarding of passengers in the aircraft," said a senior DGCA official.

The official said that the airline failed to ensure adequate arrangement for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch and passenger and cargo handling, and therefore, enforcement action in the form of financial penalty of Rs 10 lakh has been imposed for violation of CAR Section 3, Series C, Part II of the Air Transport Circular 02 of 2019. Earlier, the aviation regulator had noted that Go First failed to comply with the relevant rules in the incident of a flight leaving behind 55 passengers in the passenger coach at Bengaluru airport on January 9.

In the instant case, multiple mistakes such as lack of proper communication, coordination, reconciliation and confirmation have resulted in a highly avoidable situation and therefore, DGCA issued the show-cause notice.

Go First in a statement had said that the airline had initiated an inquiry into the incident and the matter was being investigated. The airline had decided to offer all affected passengers one free ticket for travel on any domestic route.

"In line with our philosophy of customer centricity, the airline has decided to offer all affected passengers one free ticket for travel on any domestic sector in the next 12 months," the airline had said.

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