Dear Friends,
Post the incident of Kingfisher denying equal rights to a blind woman passenger covered in the earlier post on this blog, Hindustan Times did a reality check on all major airlines and a very sorry state of affairs appeared. None of the airline officials were found trained on dealing with the persons with disabilities in utter disregard of DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirement on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Reduced Mobility!
A few days back an Air Ambulance (single engine) crashed in a residential colony in Faridabad, Haryana instantly killing 3 residents and 7 on board people including the pilots, doctors, attendants and the patient in comma! And DGCA confirmed that Apollo was running this services in violation of the DGCA's CAR which do not permit single engine planes for medical evacuation flights, though it permits single engine planes on domestic routes only.
DGCA has created a number of CARs which are available on its website. But does it have any monitoring mechanism that ensures that the rules/regulations are also implemented and when flouted, are dealt with a iron hand? If not then DGCA is going a defunct body with no control over the mandate that it has been given to handle. They need to pull up their socks before it is too late!
Subhash Chandra Vashishth
To read from source click here: Hindustan Times
Even the skies don’t care for blind people in India. After Kingfisher Airlines recently made a woman get off a flight because she was blind, we ran a reality check on other domestic airlines and found that contrary to international practices, most carriers in India do not allow blind.
When we called the tele-booking counters for Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Spice Jet, Go Air and Indigo, requesting to book a ticket for a blind adult who would travel unaccompanied, all of the above refused.
While Jet Airways demanded that a co-passenger with sight accompany the passenger, the operator at Indigo’s counter insisted that a guide dog, along with a ‘moisture absorbing’ mat for it, is a must with the passenger. Kingfisher and Spice Jet, too, refused to allow such a passenger unless accompanied by an adult with sight.
Later, when we contacted the same airlines’ corporate offices for clarity on their rules, most spokespersons evaded the question or said they’ll revert after checking the rulebook. An Indian Airlines official, however, said, “We have escorts for blind passengers at the airport, and we’ve never had any complaints.”
On May 10, Shabnam Mansoori, a resident of Ahmedabad, who was flying to Goa with her two minor sons, was taken off a Kingfisher Airlines flight at the Mumbai airport. The staff said she could not fly as she was blind. "I had flown the same airlines from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. Then why didn’t they let me take a connecting flight to Goa?” she asks. “The government must act to ensure that blind travellers are treated with dignity,” says Mansuri’s husband Sameer, who is also blind and claims to have faced a similar predicament earlier.
The ministry of Civil Aviation remained unavailable for comment
Post the incident of Kingfisher denying equal rights to a blind woman passenger covered in the earlier post on this blog, Hindustan Times did a reality check on all major airlines and a very sorry state of affairs appeared. None of the airline officials were found trained on dealing with the persons with disabilities in utter disregard of DGCA's Civil Aviation Requirement on Carriage by Air of Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Reduced Mobility!
A few days back an Air Ambulance (single engine) crashed in a residential colony in Faridabad, Haryana instantly killing 3 residents and 7 on board people including the pilots, doctors, attendants and the patient in comma! And DGCA confirmed that Apollo was running this services in violation of the DGCA's CAR which do not permit single engine planes for medical evacuation flights, though it permits single engine planes on domestic routes only.
DGCA has created a number of CARs which are available on its website. But does it have any monitoring mechanism that ensures that the rules/regulations are also implemented and when flouted, are dealt with a iron hand? If not then DGCA is going a defunct body with no control over the mandate that it has been given to handle. They need to pull up their socks before it is too late!
Subhash Chandra Vashishth
To read from source click here: Hindustan Times
No sight no flight?
HT City Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 24, 2011
New Delhi, May 24, 2011
Even the skies don’t care for blind people in India. After Kingfisher Airlines recently made a woman get off a flight because she was blind, we ran a reality check on other domestic airlines and found that contrary to international practices, most carriers in India do not allow blind.
When we called the tele-booking counters for Jet Airways, Kingfisher, Spice Jet, Go Air and Indigo, requesting to book a ticket for a blind adult who would travel unaccompanied, all of the above refused.
While Jet Airways demanded that a co-passenger with sight accompany the passenger, the operator at Indigo’s counter insisted that a guide dog, along with a ‘moisture absorbing’ mat for it, is a must with the passenger. Kingfisher and Spice Jet, too, refused to allow such a passenger unless accompanied by an adult with sight.
Later, when we contacted the same airlines’ corporate offices for clarity on their rules, most spokespersons evaded the question or said they’ll revert after checking the rulebook. An Indian Airlines official, however, said, “We have escorts for blind passengers at the airport, and we’ve never had any complaints.”
On May 10, Shabnam Mansoori, a resident of Ahmedabad, who was flying to Goa with her two minor sons, was taken off a Kingfisher Airlines flight at the Mumbai airport. The staff said she could not fly as she was blind. "I had flown the same airlines from Ahmedabad to Mumbai. Then why didn’t they let me take a connecting flight to Goa?” she asks. “The government must act to ensure that blind travellers are treated with dignity,” says Mansuri’s husband Sameer, who is also blind and claims to have faced a similar predicament earlier.
The ministry of Civil Aviation remained unavailable for comment
