Indigo and Mumbai Airport gets show cause notices over viral video of passengers eating on tarmac

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has sent show cause notices to Indigo and Mumbai airport following the circulation of a video on social media showing passengers sitting on the tarmac and consuming food. The two parties have been asked to present explanations regarding the incident today.

"If replies are not received in the given time, then enforcement action, including financial penalty, will be initiated," the ministry warned.

The show cause notices were issued this morning after Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia held a meeting with all ministry officials last midnight. The ministry has held both Mumbai airport and IndiGo responsible for the incident and blamed them for not being "proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport".

"The aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 (instead of a Contact Stand - an aircraft parking stand that is suitable for walking passengers to and from an aircraft from an allocated boarding gate), which further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like restrooms and refreshments at the terminal," the government notice read.

The ministry further said that the flight operation happened without taking "passenger convenience, laid down security norms and operational issues into account".