Abstract
India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, yet it does not have proper legal guidelines about the protection of passengers their rights, their time, their dignity, and their recourse. No doubt that aviation facilitates passengers by saving time and covering long distances within a few hours. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024, which came into force in 2025 replacing the Aircraft Act of 1934, has introduced a modernised structural framework but still fails to incorporate a standalone, codified passenger rights statute in India. This article examines the procedure and changes traced from the newly enacted air aviation law, i.e., the Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024, and provides a comparison with the current multi-layered legal regime under DGCA Regulations, Civil Aviation Requirements, and the Consumer Protection Act 2019, with an understanding of what passengers need to know to enforce their rights.
Introduction
India is the third largest domestic aviation market in the world. On any given day, over 538,000 passengers board domestic flights across India[1]. Delayed departures, denied boarding, arbitrary cancellation without prior notice, misbehaviour with passengers, and mishandling of baggage are all-too-familiar grievances. If one were to ask a frequent flier about his or her legal rights as an air passenger, the likely response would be one of blank uncertainty not due to lack of intelligence, but because of the absence of a clear, consolidated, and accessible legal framework dedicated to passenger protection in the Indian aviation sector.
In recent times, numerous news reports have highlighted complaints of delay and misbehaviour against reputed aviation companies. The most alarming recent incident is IndiGo's mass cancellations India's biggest aviation crisis of 2025 where approximately 200,000 passengers were impacted across international and domestic sectors[2]. IndiGo cancelled bookings without prior notice, citing technical failures, crew shortages, and regulatory compliance issues. Passengers were left stranded, offered inadequate compensation, and had no clear statutory remedy to enforce.
A passenger pays a significant amount for a seat, timely departure, a destination, and an implied standard of care a promise reinforced through glossy websites, loyalty programs, and marketing campaigns. Yet the reality is starkly different. The gap between promise and delivery is not merely a service quality issue; it is a legal vacuum and this article seeks to examine, critique, and propose solutions to that vacuum.
Legal Framework and Structure for Air Aviation
The legal framework governing domestic air travel in India is derived from multiple statutes and regulatory instruments that, together, form a complex and often overlapping multi-layered system. The Airport Authority of India Act, 1994 established the Airports Authority of India[3] (AAI) and made it responsible for the development, finance, operation, and maintenance of all airports in India. Other laws include the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, 2008 (AERA Act), the Carriage by Air Act, 1972, the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025 (PIAO Act), and The Aircraft (Security) Act 2011, among others. These laws cover aspects relating to parking charges, airport user services, passenger loss of baggage, injury and harm including death, carriage loss, and many more concerns.
The primary regulatory body is the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which issues Civil Aviation Requirements (CARs). Of particular relevance is CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, which lays down norms for denied boarding, cancellations, and flight delays[4]. The DGCA functions under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and is the principal authority for regulating civil aviation safety and services. However, its powers are largely technical and administrative, and there is no dedicated judicial or quasi-judicial forum for passenger grievances under the aviation law framework.
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (CPA 2019) fills this gap partially[5] by allowing passengers to file complaints before Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions. However, the consumer forum route is often slow, and the technicalities of aviation disputes require domain expertise that consumer forums may lack. The result is a patchwork system where passengers can technically assert rights through multiple channels DGCA complaint portal, consumer forums, civil courts but face procedural, evidentiary, and enforcement barriers at every stage.
A Modernised Framework Without a Passenger Spine
The Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024 (BVA 2024) was enacted to replace the colonial-era Aircraft Act of 1934 and came into force in 2025[6]. The Act represents a significant structural overhaul. It consolidates regulatory authority, introduces new provisions on airspace management, aircraft registration, licensing of personnel, accident investigation, and streamlines the powers of the DGCA and Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
The BVA 2024 introduces progressive measures including provisions for the use of drones, unmanned aircraft systems, and future air mobility. It also strengthens the framework for aircraft safety standards and international obligations under conventions like the Chicago Convention, 1944, and the Cape Town Convention, 2001[7]. In procedural terms, the new law clarifies the powers of the Central Government, the DGCA, and the BCAS, and provides for stiffer penalties for safety violations.
However, despite its broad scope, the BVA 2024 conspicuously omits any standalone chapter or section dedicated to air passenger rights. There is no provision mandating minimum compensation for cancellations, no statutory right to information on delays, no defined standard for duty of care, and no specific passenger grievance redressal mechanism. In this respect, the BVA 2024 mirrors its predecessor both laws treat the passenger as incidental rather than central to aviation regulation. This is a critical legislative oversight that distinguishes India from more mature aviation jurisdictions such as the European Union, the United States, and Canada[8].
Legal Aspects: Rights, Remedies, and Gaps
From a legal standpoint, air passenger rights in India exist at the intersection of contract law, consumer law, tort law, and sector-specific regulation. The airline-passenger relationship is fundamentally contractual, governed by the conditions of carriage that airlines publish under DGCA guidelines. These conditions must not fall below DGCA-mandated minimums, but they are largely drafted in favour of airlines.
1. Right Against Denied Boarding
Under DGCA CAR Section 3, Series M, Part IV, if a passenger with a confirmed booking is denied boarding due to overbooking, they are entitled to compensation of up to Rs. 10,000 for flights up to 1 hour delay[9], Rs. 20,000 for flights between 1–2 hours delay, and up to Rs. 20,000 for delays beyond 24 hours. The passenger must also be offered an alternate flight or a full refund. However, enforcement is weak the burden of initiating a complaint rests on the passenger, and airlines routinely cite force majeure clauses to avoid liability.
2. Right Against Arbitrary Cancellation
When a flight is cancelled, passengers are entitled to a full refund of the ticket cost as well as compensation, depending on the notice period. The DGCA mandates that if cancellation notice is given less than 24 hours before departure, compensation is due. However, 'operational reasons' a frequently invoked and vaguely defined exception allow airlines to evade this obligation. The IndiGo mass cancellation of 2025 is a case study in how this exception can be misused at scale, rendering thousands of passengers without remedy.
3. Right Against Baggage Mishandling
Under the Carriage by Air Act, 1972 (which incorporates the Montreal Convention, 1999 for international travel and the Warsaw Convention[10] for older claims), airlines are liable for loss, destruction, or damage to baggage. For domestic travel, DGCA CARs provide a compensation mechanism, though the limits are often inadequate relative to the actual loss. Passengers must file Property Irregularity Reports (PIR) at the airport to preserve their claims[11], a procedural requirement that many are unaware of.
4. Right to Information and Transparency
Passengers have a right to be informed promptly about delays, cancellations, and gate changes under DGCA guidelines. Airlines are required to provide information at least two hours before departure in case of significant delays. However, there is no independent audit mechanism or penalty structure that makes this right meaningfully enforceable. The DGCA complaint portal exists, but response times are slow and outcomes inconsistent.
5. Consumer Protection Remedies
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 significantly expands access to redressal by allowing online filing of complaints, expanding the territorial jurisdiction of forums, and increasing pecuniary limits. Aviation services qualify as 'services' under the CPA 2019, and 'deficiency in service' which includes delay, cancellation, and baggage loss is actionable. However, even under this progressive law, the quantum of compensation is discretionary, and there is no standardised tariff of damages for aviation-specific wrongs.
6. International Comparison: The EU Model
The European Union's Regulation EC 261/2004 is widely regarded as the gold standard for air passenger rights. It provides mandatory, automatically applicable compensation of EUR 250[12]–600 depending on flight distance, for denied boarding, cancellation, and long delays (over 3 hours). Airlines bear the burden of establishing extraordinary circumstances. The regulation is enforced by National Enforcement Bodies in each member state, with clear adjudicative procedures. India's system, by contrast, places the entire burden on passengers and lacks a dedicated enforcement body with adjudicative powers.
Consumer Protection and Aviation: The Interface
The CPA 2019 and the aviation regulatory framework operate on parallel tracks that rarely converge. The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has, in several landmark cases, held airlines liable for deficiency of service, awarding compensation for delay, cancellation, and harassment. In Air India Ltd. v. Prabha Sharma, the NCDRC awarded compensation for mental agony[13] caused by repeated flight delays, recognising that a passenger's time and dignity are cognisable interests. Similarly, in Jet Airways (India) Ltd. v. Gurmit Singh, courts recognised that service conditions in the airline sector must meet a basic standard of reasonableness[14].
However, the interface between consumer law and aviation regulation creates jurisdictional ambiguity. Airlines often argue that disputes arising from conditions of carriage are governed exclusively by the Carriage by Air Act, 1972, and are not consumer disputes in the traditional sense. This argument has been rejected by courts in several cases, but the uncertainty persists and discourages passengers from seeking legal remedy.
The need of the hour is a single, comprehensive Air Passenger Rights Act that consolidates the rights currently scattered across CARs, the CPA 2019, the Carriage by Air Act, and other instruments. Such a statute should provide: (i) automatic compensation without the need to file a complaint; (ii) a dedicated Air Passenger Ombudsman with adjudicative powers; (iii) mandatory passenger information systems at airports; and (iv) transparent and publicly accessible airline performance data.
Role of the DGCA: Regulator, Adjudicator, or Neither?
The DGCA occupies a peculiar position in the passenger rights framework. It is both the regulator that sets the rules (through CARs) and the body that adjudicates complaints filed by passengers. This dual role creates a structural conflict of interest, particularly when complaints are filed against airlines that the DGCA is also responsible for supervising and supporting commercially.
The DGCA's complaint portal, ACSMA (Air Sewa), was launched with considerable fanfare but has not delivered systemic change[15]. While individual complaints are sometimes resolved, there is no mechanism to convert patterns of complaints into regulatory action. Airlines with persistent records of delay and misbehaviour face little regulatory consequence beyond occasional show-cause notices. The DGCA lacks the independence, resources, and legal mandate to act as an effective passenger rights enforcer.
This is in contrast with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the United Kingdom, which maintains a dedicated Consumer Team[16] with the power to impose binding requirements on airlines and refer systemic violations to court. India's DGCA, despite its vast regulatory mandate under the BVA 2024, remains primarily a technical and safety regulator, not a consumer champion.
The Way Forward: Towards a Comprehensive Passenger Rights Regime
India's aviation sector is projected to be the world's largest by 2030[17]. As the market grows, the gap between passenger expectations and legal protection becomes increasingly untenable. A few critical reforms are essential:
First, the enactment of a dedicated Air Passenger Rights Act modelled on the EU Regulation EC 261/2004, with automatic compensation triggers, is urgently required. This Act should cover denied boarding, cancellations, long delays, downgrading, and baggage mishandling, with clear, non-waivable passenger entitlements.
Second, the establishment of an independent Air Passenger Ombudsman[18] separate from the DGCA with the power to adjudicate complaints, impose fines, and publish airline performance reports, would significantly strengthen enforcement.
Third, airlines should be mandated to maintain real-time, publicly accessible flight performance dashboards, enabling passengers and regulators to monitor punctuality and service quality.
Fourth, legal aid and awareness programmes specifically targeting air passengers should be integrated into consumer protection initiatives at airports. The current reality, where passengers must navigate multiple statutes, regulatory bodies, and fora to assert basic rights, is simply incompatible with a world-class aviation market.
Conclusion
India's air passenger rights framework is a story of structural promise and practical failure. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam 2024, despite its modernity and ambition, does not address the fundamental rights of the 538,000-plus passengers who board domestic flights every day. The multi-layered system of DGCA CARs, consumer protection law, and contractual conditions of carriage provides passengers with theoretical remedies but few practical ones.
As the IndiGo mass cancellation crisis of 2025 demonstrated, even large-scale, demonstrable violations of passenger rights result in limited, delayed, and discretionary relief. The gap between India's aviation ambitions and its passenger rights architecture is not merely a policy gap it is a justice gap. Filling it requires political will, legislative action, and an institutional commitment to placing the passenger not the airline, not the regulator at the centre of India's aviation story.
Reference
[1] Ministry of Civil Aviation, Annual Report 2024–25, Directorate General of Civil Aviation Traffic Statistics — Domestic Airlines (2024–25) <https://www.dgca.gov.in>. The figure of 538,000 daily passengers reflects consolidated DGCA data for peak domestic traffic in 2024–25.
[2] ‘IndiGo’s Mass Cancellations: India’s Biggest Aviation Crisis of 2025’, The Hindu, April 2025. IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd.) confirmed the scale of cancellations in regulatory filings and press statements; consumer forum proceedings were initiated by affected passengers (see Bibliography).
[3] Airports Authority of India Act, 1994 (Act No. 55 of 1994), s. 2, s. 12. The Act constitutes the AAI as a statutory body and vests in it all aerodrome functions previously exercised under the Aerodrome (Control of Building) Rules, 1968.
[4] DGCA Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR), Section 3, Series M, Part IV — ‘Handling of Denied Boarding, Cancellation of Flights, and Delays’, issued under r. 133A of the Aircraft Rules, 1937. The CAR has been amended periodically; the current version is available at <https://www.dgca.gov.in/digigov-portal/?page=jsp/dgca/InventoryList/RegulationsList.jsp>.
[5] Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (Act No. 35 of 2019), s. 2(7) (definition of ‘consumer’), s. 2(42) (definition of ‘service’), s. 35 (complaint to District Commission). For aviation, the jurisdictional thresholds under s. 34 and s. 47 determine the appropriate forum based on the value of goods or services paid as consideration.
[6] Bharatiya Vayuyan Adhiniyam, 2024 (Act No. 42 of 2024), Preamble and s. 1(3) (commencement). The Act received Presidential assent on 1 August 2024 and was brought into force by notification in the Official Gazette on 1 March 2025, repealing the Aircraft Act, 1934 in its entirety.
[7] Convention on International Civil Aviation (Chicago Convention), 1944, opened for signature 7 December 1944, 15 UNTS 295; Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (Cape Town Convention), adopted 16 November 2001, 2307 UNTS 285. India ratified the Cape Town Convention through the Protection of Interests in Aircraft Objects Act, 2025.
[8] European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 of 11 February 2004, establishing common rules on compensation and assistance to passengers in the event of denied boarding and of cancellation or long delay of flights [2004] OJ L46/1. See also: European Commission, ‘Air Passenger Rights in the EU’ <https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/passenger_rights>.
[9] DGCA CAR, Section 3, Series M, Part IV, para. 3 (Denied Boarding Compensation). The schedule of compensation — Rs. 10,000 (delay up to one hour), Rs. 20,000 (one to two hours), Rs. 20,000 (beyond 24 hours) — applies where the airline has caused overbooking. The passenger must elect between compensation and an alternate flight within two hours.
[10] Carriage by Air Act, 1972 (Act No. 69 of 1972); Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air (Montreal Convention), adopted 28 May 1999, 2242 UNTS 309; Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (Warsaw Convention), 1929. The Montreal Convention supersedes the Warsaw Convention for States party to both; India acceded to the Montreal Convention on 1 May 2009.
[11] DGCA CAR, Section 3, Series M, Part IV, para. 6; Montreal Convention, Art. 31 (notice requirement). Under Art. 31(2), in the case of damage or partial loss, the complaint must be made in writing immediately upon discovery and at the latest within seven days for checked baggage and fourteen days for cargo. Failure to file a PIR does not extinguish the claim but creates a rebuttable presumption of delivery in good condition.
[12] Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, Art. 7. The compensation schedule is: EUR 250 for flights up to 1,500 km; EUR 400 for intra-Community flights over 1,500 km and all other flights between 1,500 and 3,500 km; EUR 600 for all other flights. The Court of Justice of the EU in Sturgeon v Condor Flugdienst GmbH (C-402/07) [2009] ECR I-10923 extended the right to compensation to passengers suffering a delay of three hours or more at the final destination.
[13] Air India Ltd. v. Prabha Sharma, National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). The Commission held that repeated, unexplained flight delays constitute a ‘deficiency in service’ within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act and that compensation for mental agony and harassment is awardable over and above refund of ticket cost. See also: Ruwantissa Abeyratne, Aviation and the Carbon Trade (Springer, 2011) ch. 3, for a comparative analysis of airline liability standards.
[14] Jet Airways (India) Ltd. v. Gurmit Singh, Consumer Forum (year unreported in public domain). The forum rejected the airline’s reliance on standard-form conditions of carriage to exclude liability for checked baggage delay, holding that exclusion clauses inconsistent with DGCA CARs are void as against public policy. See Ashok Agarwal, Consumer Protection Law in India (Universal Law Publishing, 2020) pp. 312–316.
[15] Ministry of Civil Aviation, ‘Air Sewa’ Portal (formerly ACSMA), available at <https://airsewa.gov.in>. The portal was launched in October 2016. For an assessment of its limitations, see Aditya Pratap Singh, ‘Passenger Rights in Indian Aviation: A Legislative Critique’ (2023) 5 Indian Journal of Air and Space Law 112, 119–121.
[16] Civil Aviation Authority (UK), ‘Passenger Rights’ <https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers-and-public/>; Civil Aviation Act 1982 (UK), ss. 3–4 (CAA functions). The UK CAA’s Consumer Team can issue formal decisions binding on airlines and refer persistent non-compliance to the Competition and Markets Authority or to court. See Srikanth Rajagopalan, ‘Airline Liability and Consumer Redressal: Rethinking the Indian Model’ (2022) 18 Journal of Aviation Management 45, 52.
[17] International Air Transport Association (IATA), ‘India Aviation Outlook 2024’; Ministry of Civil Aviation, Annual Report 2024–25 <https://www.civilaviation.gov.in>. IATA projections place India as the world’s third-largest aviation market by 2024 and the largest by 2030 based on passenger numbers, surpassing China and the United States.
[18] For a comparable model, see the Australian Aviation Access Forum and the Aviation Consumer Advocate mechanism under Pt. IVA of the Civil Aviation Act 1988 (Cth). In the Indian context, see P.S. Datta, Air Law and Policy in India (Eastern Law House, 3rd ed., 2022) pp. 287–295, advocating a statutory ombudsman with adjudicative powers analogous to the Insurance Ombudsman under the Redressal of Public Grievances Rules, 1998.