DGCA Slaps Rs 10 Lakh Fine on Go First Airlines for Leaving 55 Passengers at Bengaluru Airport

India aviation watchdog DGCA has imposed a Rs 10 lakh fine on Go First airlines for an incident where 55 passengers were left behind in a coach at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport. The incident occurred on January 9 while the passengers of the airline were waiting to board a Delhi-bound flight at 6:30 am. DGCA has also issued a show-cause notice to the airline earlier. 

Responding to the notice, the airline said, "Perusal of (the) reply of Go First reveals that there was improper communication, coordination between terminal coordinator, commercial staff and crew regarding (the) boarding of passengers in the aircraft."

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"The airline failed to ensure adequate arrangement for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch, and passenger/cargo handling," DGCA said in a statement. For these lapses, the watchdog has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on the airline.

The airline was found to have violated CAR Section 3, Series C, Part II of the Air Transport Circular 02 of 2019 by failing to make adequate arrangements for ground handling, preparation of load and trim sheet, flight dispatch, and passenger and cargo handling. As a result, enforcement action in the form of a financial penalty of Rs. 10 lakh was imposed.

Prior to now, the aviation watchdog had stated that Go First had disregarded the pertinent regulations in the incident involving a flight that left 55 passengers in the passenger coach on January 9 at Bengaluru Airport.

On January 10, GoFirst issued an apology, saying, "We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused to the passengers due to an inadvertent oversight in the reconciliation of flight G8 116, from Bengaluru to Delhi. Passengers were accommodated on alternate airlines to Delhi and onward to other destination."