NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Civil Aviation has directed the airlines to allocate at least 60 per cent of seats on every flight free of charge and ensure that passengers travelling on the same PNR are seated together, a move seen as a significant passenger-centric reform.
The directions, issued through the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), seek to bring greater transparency and uniformity in airline practices while addressing long-standing passenger grievances over paid seat selection and scattered allotments.
Under the new norms, the airlines will be required to assign adjacent seats, as far as possible, to passengers booked under a single PNR, ensuring that families are not split across rows — a common complaint in recent years.
The ministry said the measures were part of a broader push to strengthen passenger facilitation in India’s fast-growing aviation sector, which now handles over five lakh passengers daily and ranks as the world’s third-largest domestic market.
The DGCA has also asked the airlines to adopt transparent and passenger-friendly policies for carriage of sports equipment, musical instruments and pets, within safety and operational guidelines.
Reinforcing passenger rights, the regulator has mandated strict adherence to norms in cases of delays, cancellations and denied boarding. The airlines will also have to prominently display passenger rights on their websites, mobile applications, booking platforms and airport counters, and communicate entitlements in regional languages.
The ministry said the steps built on ongoing initiatives such as affordable airport eateries under UDAN Yatri Cafés, free Wi-Fi and access to books through “Flybrary”, aimed at improving overall travel experience while reducing grievances.