Specially-abled child incident a lesson for us, won't appeal order: IndiGo

IndiGo CEO Ronojoy Dutta said IndiGo needs to be sensitive in their training and take the specially-abled child incident as a case study

IndiGo’s outgoing Chief Executive Officer Ronojoy Dutta on Tuesday said the airline will not appeal against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) order in the case pertaining to denying boarding to a child with special needs.

"We will not appeal against the DGCA order. It told us we should have contacted the airport doctor," Dutta told Business Standard.

The CEO added that IndiGo needs to be sensitive in their training and take the incident as a learning opportunity.

The aviation regulator on May 28 imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the airline for denying boarding to a specially-abled child at Ranchi airport on May 7. Dutta had on May 9 expressed regret over the incident and offered to buy an electric wheelchair for the child.

IndiGo said the boy was denied permission to board the Ranchi-Hyderabad flight as he was visibly in panic. After the boy was prohibited from boarding, his parents also decided not to enter the plane.

In its order the DGCA said that to avoid such situations in the future, it would revisit its own regulations, making it mandatory for airlines to take the airport doctor's written opinion on the health of a passenger before making a decision to deny boarding.

"It has been observed that the handling of the special child by the Indigo ground staff was deficient and ended up exacerbating the situation," the order added.

A more compassionate handling would have smoothened nerves, calmed the child and obviated the need for the extreme step resulting in the passengers being denied boarding, it mentioned.

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On May 16, a three-member team's preliminary findings found IndiGo to be in violation of its regulations, and was issued a show-cause notice.

In order to ensure justice, the regulator conducted a personal hearing and allowed the parties to give their written submissions on this incident.

In his statement at the time, the IndiGo CEO had said that the airline staff took the best possible decision under difficult circumstances.