Amritsar Congress MP Gurjit Singh Aujla has written to Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, demanding urgent government action on what he describes as a serious and growing crisis in Air India’s long-term international operations.
Congress MP Gurjit Singh Aujla has written to Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu. (Parliament TV/File Photo)”Passengers on long-haul flights to Vancouver, Toronto and Australia are paying high fares but traveling on planes with non-functional screens, broken seats, worn upholstery and poor cleanliness. This is unacceptable,” he wrote on Monday X, sharing his letter on February 14, 2026.
Aujla acknowledged that Air India has launched a large-scale fleet retrofit and modernization program, but argued that it does little to help passengers today. “The completion date for the wide-body aircraft upgrade has been extended to 2027-2028,” he noted. “Until these upgrades are fully implemented, passengers on key long-haul routes will continue to face avoidable inconvenience and inconvenience.”
Aujla told the minister that he was writing to draw attention to the “increasing number of complaints from passengers – particularly from Punjab and North Indian diaspora – about the condition and onboard facilities of Air India’s long-haul flights operating at the destination”.
Awjala claims that the allegations are specific. “Many travelers reported that the seat-back screens were non-functional, the seats were loose or broken, the armrests were damaged, the upholstery was worn and, overall, below the standard expected for international travel,” he said.
He added that “even basic inflight entertainment and comfort systems often don’t work on these long journeys”, an acute problem on flights that routinely last between 12 and 15 hours.
He added, “This route carries a lot of students, families and working people who pay premium fares. So they get world-class amenities.”
Aujla’s letter comes amid intense scrutiny of Air India’s service quality as the Tata Group-owned carrier attempts a turnaround following 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.
Awjala’s main claimThe Lok Sabha member’s letter basically demanded an immediate inspection and audit of long-haul flights plying routes to Canada, Australia, the UK and the US, “especially those carrying a large number of Indian diaspora passengers”.
He called for a deadline for replacing or refurbishing the old wide-body aircraft currently deployed on the route. He called for the deployment of modern systems “in line with global aviation benchmarks”.
He said that “complaints regarding lack of assistance at the airport are also frequent”.