New Delhi, July 8: The Supreme Court has said that passengers should be permitted to return to the airport if their flight was delayed for more than three hours after boarding to enable them to use basic amenities such as toilets and refreshments.

The bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik, in their order of July 4, urged the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to specify the duties of the airport and the Air Traffic Control in such cases.

The judges, however, overturned an Andhra Pradesh High Court ruling that had upheld a Lok Adalat decision to award Rs 10,000 as compensation and Rs 2,000 as costs to a harried passenger of Indigo.

The Supreme Court clarified that low-cost airlines, including Indigo, may not bear responsibility for delays beyond control, but could not shrug off facilitation duties in case of delays.

“The issue of responsibility for delay is distinct and different from the responsibility of the airline to offer facilitation to the passengers grounded or struck on board due to delay.

“If the obligation to provide facilitation to the passengers is legally recognised… failure to provide the required minimum facilitation may amount to either breach of statutory/contractual obligation, negligence, want of care or deficiency in service on the part of the operating airline entitling the passengers for compensation,” it said.

The court said any clause exempting Indigo or any other airline from offering any meals would only apply to cases where passengers were in the airport. It would not apply to passengers who were on board and a delay in the flight taking off denied them access to food and water.

“In the extraordinary situation where passengers are physically under the complete care and control of the airline, as it happens when they have boarded the aircraft and have no freedom to alight from the aircraft, the duty of the airlines to protect and care for them, and provide for basic facilitation would prevail over any term of the contract excluding any facilitation (except where the carrier itself cannot access food due to emergency situations),” the court said.

The case pertains to the ordeal faced by N. Satchidanand and eight others who were booked to travel on Indigo Flight 6E 301 from Delhi to Hyderabad on December 14, 2007, scheduled to depart at 6.15am.

Owing to dense fog and poor visibility at Delhi airport, the flight was delayed. An announcement was made about this but since Indigo was a “low cost carrier”, neither snacks nor beverages were offered. However, sandwiches were offered for sale and he purchased one by paying Rs 100.

Around 11.15am, an announcement was made that Flight 6E 301 was cancelled and the passengers were given the following options: refund of air fare; credit for future travel on IndiGo; rebooking onto an alternative IndiGo flight at no extra cost.

Willing passengers were permitted to take the next flight, 6E 305, scheduled to depart at 12.15pm. As the same aircraft was to be used for the combined flight, several passengers, including Satchidanand, opted to continue the journey on the combined flight by the same aircraft and remained on board.

Several other passengers who opted for refund or future credit left the aircraft.

However, even the combined Flight 6E 305 could not take off on schedule as the ATC did not give clearance.

As the airport was getting congested because of widespread delays, authorities advised flights which had completed boarding but had not taken off not to send back the passengers to the airport lounge, but retain them inside the aircraft itself.

Satchidanand and some other passengers protested and demanded lunch/refreshments as they were held up inside the plane. They were provided a sandwich and water, free of cost, around noon. A further offer of free sandwiches was made around 3pm. However, as vegetarian sandwiches were exhausted, the second offer was of chicken sandwiches. The passengers who declined as they were vegetarians were offered biscuits and water free of cost.

Finally ATC clearance was given at 4.20pm and the flight departed at 4.37pm, reaching Hyderabad around 7pm.

However, at Hyderabad, several passengers, including Satchidanand, were detained for over an hour following a complaint by the crew that they had threatened and misbehaved with the air-hostesses when the flight was delayed.

Satchidanand then moved the Lok Adalat on September 18, 2009, and won. The high court upheld the judgment on December 31, 2009. He claimed that he was confined on his aircraft seat from 5.45am (time of boarding) to 4.37pm (time of departure of the flight) for nearly 11 hours leading to cramps in his legs; and accused the airline of failure to provide breakfast, lunch, tea in the aircraft and failure to provide access to medical facilities as he was a diabetic and hyper-tension patient.