A spate of complaints about non-availability of pre-booked wheelchair service at major Indian airports propelled the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to amend “special service” norms for airlines. As part of the revised wheelchair rules, DGCA – a leading Indian civil aviation regulator – now allows airlines to leavy a fee for wheelchair bookings by able-bodied passengers and senior travelers in good health. At the same time, DGCA made it clear that airlines must continue to provide wheelchair assistance as a free service to those who genuinely need it at airports.

DGCA also directed the airlines to display the above on their websites. However, there is yet no clarity on how airlines would identify whether a passenger genuinely needs free wheelchair service and how much fee will be levied on non-genuine wheelchair bookings. A draft on the revision was issued in August 2025 after the civil aviation watchdogs, including DGCA, were taken aback by facts about the misuse of free wheelchair service – a key facility for those with physical debility, limited mobility, or some medical condition.

An 82-year-old woman, among the passengers of Air India, suffered a fall while walking with difficulty due to wheelchair shortage at New Delhi Airport on that given day in March 2025. It led DGCA to probe why the available number of wheelchairs did not suffice to fulfil daily requests at airports. The investigation revealed the overbooking and misuse of free wheelchair assistance by able-bodied passengers in their 40s or 50s. It leaves senior citizens with limited mobility deprived of the service at busy Indian airports.

It is undeniable that having wheelchair support (for free) is the easiest way to skip long queues, from security to immigration, at the busiest airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Ahmedabad, as wheelchair-bound passengers get priority service for baggage check-in and boarding. Besides, non-Hindi and non-English speaking passengers depend on wheelchair staff to navigate the crowded terminals of Mumbai and Delhi international airports where wayfinding signages and information displays are only in Hindi and English.

New DGCA Guidelines for Wheelchair Assistance at Airports 

“To facilitate the timely provision of special assistance, passengers who have pre-booked wheelchairs shall report to the airport sufficiently in advance of their scheduled boarding time. Considering airport-specific constraints such as terminal layout, security procedures, and resource availability, airlines may prescribe a minimum reporting time to facilitate hassle-free assistance,” the DGCA circular to airlines states.  

While providing wheelchairs to passengers for free or a fee is airlines’ primary responsibility, airport operators are not exempt to it, according to DGCA’s new rules for special service at airports. If airlines fall short of fulfilling wheelchair requests during a busy travel season, airport operators must have a provision of supplementary wheelchairs to help airlines render special assistance to travelers with genuine needs.

A number of wheelchair requests come from travelers booking flights from India to USA, Canada, the UK, Singapore, Australia and other countries, as many Indians fly overseas to get medical care or visit their children residing there. DGCA’s new guidelines for airlines to charge able-bodied travelers for wheelchair service will impact passengers of Air India flights and IndiGo’s codeshare flights with Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines, American Airlines, and Air France-KLM.

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In March 2025, the non-availability of pre-booked wheelchair assistance forced an 82-year-old traveler, among the passengers of Air India, to walk with difficulty. The octogenarian suffered a fall before she could reach the boarding gate for a connecting flight to Bengaluru from New Delhi. She was hospitalized, thereafter. This unfortunate incident at Delhi IGI Airport sparked a debate in all quarters, from media to the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of the Parliament) and brought a grim picture to the fore – the increasing number of wheelchair assistance requests and cases of misuse.

It got Indian Aviation regulators, including DGCA talking about whether all the requests for wheelchair assistance are genuine, why the available number of wheelchairs does not suffice to fulfil daily requests at airports, whether wheelchairs are available to passengers who genuinely need this on-ground support for age-related health problems or physical debility. It has opened up a much-needed conversation about not just airlines but also passengers who are equally responsible to ensure no misuse of wheelchair service, a free facility for those with genuine needs.

Stats of Air India passengers requesting wheelchair service  

Data from early 2025 shows that nearly 30% of passengers booking Air India flights to USA from India requested wheelchair assistance. On February 19, for instance, Air India’s nonstop Delhi to Chicago flight had 99 wheelchair bookings for almost one-third of the passengers on board. On March 20, the airline had to cater to a whopping 90 wheelchair service requests for passengers scheduled to travel on the Delhi-Newark flight. Precisely, Air India alone processes over 100,000 wheelchair requests every month from passengers, domestic and international.

Demand for wheelchair assistance has surged among travelers to the US, Canada, and the UK, as many elderly Indians visit those countries for medical care or a vacation with their children residing there. The scenario is more or less the same in the domestic sector wherein Mumbai CSMI Airport registered 750 wheelchair bookings for Air India flights within the country. The airport staff members reported handling up to 120 wheelchair support requests for a single international flight.

Misuse of no-cost wheelchair service

The recent spike in wheelchair requests has become a pressing concern for airlines and airports alike. Mumbai and New Delhi airports are too big and crowded to navigate for senior citizens traveling unaccompanied. Having wheelchair assistance is the easiest way for them to skip long queues and zip through various checkpoints, from security to immigration to boarding. That’s the root of wheelchair service misuse at Indian airports.

There’s no denying that wheelchair-bound passengers get preferential treatment like priority baggage check-in and boarding. That’s another reason why even able-bodied senior travelers are resorting to misuse airlines’ no-cost wheelchair service for the sake of convenience. Delhi and Mumbai airports’ wayfinding signage and information displays in Hindi and English make the non-Hindi and non-English-speaking elderly depend on the wheelchair support staff to access facilities in the terminal.

A shocking truth

The airport staff noticed on several occasions that nearly half of the passengers with wheelchair bookings walked normally once past security or immigration checks. Evidently, many travelers requesting wheelchair assistance on the pretext of necessity are depriving those with a genuine need for the service. In a bizarre incident of wheelchair shortage at Mumbai International Airport in 2024, an 80-year-old Indian American, who had arrived from New York, collapsed, suffered a heart attack, and died leaving his spouse behind.

The overbooking of wheelchair assistance service has raised safety alarms for airlines flying a significant number of senior citizens and medically unfit passengers. It poses logistical challenges during a mid-air emergency that often forces unplanned flight diversions, given the fact that each flight has limited staff and equipment. With passenger safety being a priority, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is investigating the misuse of wheelchair service at major airports and is looking to mitigate it.

Some aviation experts opine that aviation regulators should direct airlines to ask passengers for valid medical proof as evidence of their genuine need for wheelchair assistance. This would help segregate adults with limited mobility from healthy elderly travelers. This accountability measure would ensure even younger adults with medical conditions are not deprived of wheelchair support at airports.

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