In a major setback for Air India, the US Department of Transportation has ordered Tata-group owned airline to pay a whopping USD 121.5 million (Rs 987 crore) as refunds and USD 1.4 million (Rs 11 crore) as the penalties for extreme delays in providing refunds to passengers.
The US has issued an order to 6 airlines globally, including India's Air India due to the cancellation or change in flights, mostly during the Covid-19 pandemic, officials said.
According to an official investigation, Air India took more than 100 days to process more than half of the 1,900 refund complaints filed with the Department of Transportation for flights that the carrier cancelled or significantly changed.
In addition to Air India, the other airlines that were slapped fines include Frontier, TAP Portugal, Aero Mexico, EI AI, and Avianca.