Airline clarified on complaint of cockroaches in Air India flight, third case of embarrassment in two days

Two travelers on Air India flight AI180 from San Francisco to Mumbai were inconvenienced because some tiny cockroaches were spotted in the cabin. An Air India official stated that in the interest of all, the cabin crew asked both the passengers to sit on other seats in the same cabin.

He said that during the scheduled refueling of the flight in Kolkata, the ground crew immediately did a thorough cleaning to solve the problem. The airline said that despite regular fumigation, sometimes insects enter the aircraft during ground operations. Air India has started investigating the incident and said that it will find out the source and cause and take necessary steps to prevent such incidents in future. The airline has apologized for the inconvenience caused to the passengers.

Earlier on Sunday, Bhubaneswar-Delhi flight A321 was canceled when excess heat was detected in the cabin prior to departure. On the same day, another Air India flight AI349 from Singapore to Chennai was canceled for maintenance purposes.

These occurrences are taking place at a time when the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has made public over 100 security irregularities against Air India. Seven of these violations are of 'Level-1' category, which are considered serious security risks. Immediate action is necessary on these.

Recently, a survey by an organization called Local Circulars revealed that 76 percent of the passengers believe that many airlines in India are spending more on publicity than security. At the same time, 64 percent said that they had faced technical problems in some flight or the other in the last three years.