Air India is India’s biggest international carrier and is also in severe debt. The airline found itself in more problems when a few business class passengers complained of being bitten by bed bugs. Pictures of passengers being bitten by bed bugs were widely shared on the social network in the past week. In clarification Air India has blamed the bad weather for a bed bug infestation on one of its recent flights from New York to finance capital of India, Mumbai.
The national carrier has apologized and has ordered an inquiry. Air India has also promised to rigorously fumigate the plane. On the other hand the carrier has also lost market share to the new entrants and has suffered a bad reputation in the airline industry for having poor service and cancellation of flights. In an earlier incident an Air India flight was travelling from Mumbai to London but was forced to turn back mid-flight after a rat was spotted on board.
This is not the first time Air India has been in trouble for the wrong reasons. There have been reports of rats on flight and even clogged toilets and inefficient flight crews. The constant negative reports on the carrier led the newspapers to declare the airline as a ‘national shame’. However, looking at the positive side, the carrier boasts one of the most modern fleets in the world and also some of the best pilots in the industry. Moreover, there have never been incidences that involved the crew members seriously injuring the passengers.
Air India is one of the country’s oldest airlines but has not turned a profit since 2007. In June 2017, the cabinet of India had planned to privatize the carrier but it could not attract the buyers after the government offered a controlling stake. The buyer would have to take about $5bn of debt which is just the half of what the airlines owes.
Photo Credits: Zistaz
