THE SUPREME Court Monday allowed Air India to fly non-scheduled international flights without having to keep a seat empty between two passengers till June 6. The Centre and the national carrier had argued that flights were already booked and discontinuing the middle seat suddenly would lead to a logistical nightmare as one-third of bookings would have to be cancelled compounding problems for stranded passengers.
The bench was hearing an appeal by the Centre and AI challenging the May 22 interim order of the Bombay High Court which had asked Air India to adhere to the Centre’s March 23 circular. The circular had said that allocation of seats be such that a seat is kept empty between two passengers.
