Gurjeet Singh Aujla, the Congress MP from Amritsar, has written to Union minister of civil aviation Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, demanding urgent government action on what he describes as a serious and growing crisis in Air India’s long-haul international operations.
“Passengers on long-haul flights to Vancouver, Toronto & Australia are paying very high fares but travelling on aircraft with non-functional screens, broken seats, worn upholstery & poor cleanliness. This is unacceptable,” he wrote on X on Monday, sharing his letter dated February 14, 2026.
Aujla acknowledged that Air India has launched a large-scale fleet retrofit and modernisation programme, but argued that this does little to help passengers today. “The completion timeline for wide-body aircraft upgrades stretches into 2027–2028,” he noted. “Until these upgrades are fully implemented, passengers on key long-haul routes continue to face avoidable discomfort and inconvenience.”
Aujla told the minister he was writing to draw attention to “the growing number of complaints being received from passengers — particularly from Punjab and the North Indian diaspora — regarding the condition and onboard facilities of Air India’s long-haul aircraft operating to destinations”.
The complaints, Aujla claimed, are specific. “Numerous travellers have reported that seat-back screens are non-functional, seats are loose or broken, armrests damaged, upholstery worn out, and overall, below expected standards for international travel,” he stated.
He added that “even basic inflight entertainment and comfort systems are often not working on these long journeys”, an acute problem on flights that routinely last between 12 and 15 hours.
He further said, “These routes carry many students, families, and working professionals who pay premium fares. It is therefore only fair that they receive world-class facilities.”
Aujla’s letter comes at a time of intense scrutiny of Air India’s service quality as the Tata Group-owned carrier attempts a turnaround after its privatisation.
Air India and the Ministry of Civil Aviation had not issued a public response to the letter at the time of publication of this report on February 17.
Aujla’s key demands
The Lok Sabha member’s letter essentially demanded immediate inspection and audit of long-haul aircraft operating on Canada, Australia, UK and US routes, “especially those carrying large numbers of Indian diaspora passengers”.
He also called for time-bound replacement or refurbishment of outdated wide-body aircraft currently deployed on these routes. He called for installation of modern systems “in line with global aviation benchmarks”.
He said that “complaints regarding lack of support at airports are also frequent”.
www.hindustantimes.com
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