Airline to provide full refund without any cancellation charge: DGCA

The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said the airlines to refund the full amount of air ticket without levy of any cancellation charges for bookings made during Mar 25-April 14 for travel between April 15 to May 3, 2020.

As per the DGCA Advisory airline to provide a full refund to passengers within three weeks from the date of request.

This will apply on both Domestic as well as foreign operator engaged in domestic and international air travel in India.

The advisory stated:

pic.twitter.com/9wIfnU4Z1N
— DGCA (@DGCAIndia) April 16, 2020

If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period (from 25° of March to 14th of April 2020) and the airline has received payment for booking of the air ticket during the first lockdown period for travel during the same period, for both domestic and international air travel and refund is sought by the passenger against that booking being cancelled, the Airline shall refund the full amount collected without levy of cancellation charge. The refund shall be made within a period of three weeks from the date of the request for cancellation.

If a passenger has booked a ticket during the first lockdown period and the airline has received the payment for booking of air ticket during first lockdown period (from 25th of March to 14th of April 2020) for travel during the second lockdown period (from 15th of April to 3rd of May, 2020) for both domestic and international air travel and the passenger seeks a refund on cancellation of the ticket, the Airline shall refund the full amount collected without levy of cancellation charge. The refund shall be made within a period of three weeks from the date of the request for cancellation.

The rest of the air ticket which is not falling on the above two criteria will get the credit shell or credit note for use in future travel.

These developments come 48 hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an official announcement to extend the 21-day nationwide lockdown which began on March 25 and was due to end on April 14, 2020.

The lockdown has now been extended to May 3 in light of the rise in the number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases across India. As of April 16, the infection has claimed the lives of 414 patients.