Question : Growth of the Air Passenger Traffic

(a) whether about five crore air passengers are travelling every year and will grow exponentially in the near future;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether air passengers are facing issues like flight delays, problem in refunds, long queues, inadequate facilities at airports and complaints of lost baggage;

(d) if so, the details thereof in this regard;

(e) whether there is an urgent need of upgradation of Air Sewa and systemic intervention in improving customer services;

(f) if so, the steps taken by the Union Government in this regard; and

(g) the other steps taken by the Union Government for the redressal of grievance of air passengers?

The Minister of State in the Ministry of CIVIL AVIATION
(Shri Jayant Sinha)

(a) & (b) More than 10 crore passenger trips are undertaking every year. The details of the same is placed at Annexure-I.

(c) & (d) Passenger complaints data with respect to fares, refunds, flight problems, baggage, customer service, disability, staff behaviour, catering and others received against scheduled domestic airlines for the period April 2018 to October 2018 is placed at Annexure-II.;

(e) to (f) AirSewa was initially launched in Nov. 2016. The upgraded version of AirSewa was launched on 19.11.2018 to provide a superior user experience with enhanced functionalities with major improvements such as secure sign-up and log-in with social media, chatbot for travellers support, improved grievance management including social media grievances, real-time flight status and details flight schedule among others.;

(g) To safeguard the interest of air passengers, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has taken following passenger centric initiatives and has issued the following Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs):
(i) CAR Section 3, Series M Part I - Carriage by air of Persons with Disability and/or Persons with Reduced Mobility
(ii) CAR Section 3, Series M Part II - Refund of Airline tickets to passengers.
(iii) CAR Section 3, Series M Part IV - Facilities to be provided to passengers by airlines due to denied boarding, cancellation of flights and delay in flights.
(iv) CAR Section 3, Series M Part V - Facilitation in case of diversion of aircraft.
Also, the stakeholders of aviation sector and other related Government organizations have nominated nodal officers for redressal of passenger complaints.