On the Ministry’s instructions, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will soon be framing standards to assess airline performance on a range of criteria. These would include punctuality in flight arrival and departure, behaviour of airline staff, food and beverages, seating facilities on board, maintenance and housekeeping of aircraft, timely information in case of flight delay or cancellation and refund of ticket money in time. The assessment will work like a report card on airline performance, making it simpler for passengers to understand the airline they choose to travel on.

“We will soon start working on framing and assessing airlines on some standards to make it easier for passengers and also bring more accountability in the system. While DGCA’s primary function is to regulate airlines, the Ministry has asked them to look into this issue as well to ensure timely and reasonable services to passengers. DGCA will, therefore, step in as there have been several complaints about the way airlines deal with passengers. So criteria like whether airlines arrive on time will be assessed besides passenger services,” said a senior official.

Airlines are proposed to be assessed on several counts from the time a passenger buys a ticket till the time he deplanes and collects the luggage.

The Ministry plans to mark airlines separately on these standards over a period of time and then grade them. A detailed report, which will be readied with information on each airline’s performance on all standards, will be made public every quarter and the first such report can be expected by mid-2008, sources said.