Old seats on Air India force DGCA to step in

Amid flurry of complaints from passengers, regulator says airlines should not sell unserviceable seats to passengers

Air India’s Boeing 777 aircraft that fly to long-haul destinations such as the U.S. are the ones that suffer from broken seats and damaged seat-back screens. File | Photo Credit: Reuters

Tattered seat covers, broken head rests, arm rests taped and dysfunctional seat-back entertainment screens - an old and unrelenting problem for Air India continues to be a worry for its new owners, Tata Sons.

Off late, many have complained on social media that they were denied boarding or downgraded from business class to economy because of unserviceable seats prompting the DGCA on Tuesday to order all airlines in the country to ensure no unserviceable seats were sold to passengers.

"This is the state of Air India flight AI188 from Toronto to Delhi with seats broken, screen not working, the flight not cleaned properly. Expect better services from @TataCompanies. Why would people choose @airindiain if this is the state of the flight," wrote one Akshay on Twitter.

Another passenger, Ritu Grover, wrote that she traveled from Delhi to San Jose on May 17 on an Air India flight on “broken seats”.

One Dattatrey Phatnaik likened Air India's seats to "toilet commodes" and appealed that aircraft on Mumbai-Muscat route be replaced.

Others shared photos of torn upholstery, broken parts lying beside their seats, tapes on folding tables as well as armrests. A business class passenger also shared pictures of the in-flight entertainment monitor taped together.

Safety concerns

The DGCA has said that such issues not only cause inconvenience to passengers, but also raises safety concerns.

The airline's international passengers who have to endure over 15 hours of flight with such seats are the worst hit. Air India's Boeing 777 aircraft that fly to long-haul destinations such as the U.S. are the ones that suffer from broken seats and damaged seat-back screens. In 2006, the airline placed an order for 68 Boeing planes, including 23 777s. Most of these planes are now 12-15 years old.

"Seats on Boeing 777s have been crying for attention for past several years, but because of the government's plan for disinvestment entire expenditure on their replacement was stopped. Only damaged parts were being replaced. . Infact, the problems surfaced soon after the new planes joined the fleet and there were concerns over the tender given to an Italian company called Avio Interiors," said a former Air India official who has served in the airline's engineering department.

He added that it was not fair to expect changes over-night under the new owners. "Selecting seat manufacturers and then fitting the seats into existing configuration can take upto a year," he added.

But the issue is not confined to Air India alone. Earlier this month, when several passengers sustained injuries during air turbulence on a SpiceJet flight from Mumbai to Durgapur, the DGCA ordered a fleet-wide inspection to ensure that the airline's poor maintenance standards and damaged parts didn't pose a safety risk for passengers.