India court orders refunds for flights cancelled due to lockdown

India’s Supreme Court ordered local airlines to refund tickets booked for travel during a nationwide lockdown earlier this year, dealing a blow to an industry already strapped for cash. The court’s verdict also mandated airlines to issue credit vouchers even for tickets booked for travel outside the lockdown period, if the flights were later canceled due to virus-related restrictions. Passengers must also be allowed to use those vouchers until March 31 on any route, and carriers must refund with a monthly interest if those remain unused by then. The verdict by a three-judge panel headed by Ashok Bhushan reinforces the view of PM Narendra Modi’s administration. Many airlines around the world have issued so-called credit notes, instead of cash refunds, to passengers whose flights were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, providing carriers with a temporary revenue source to tide over the slump, even as disgruntled flyers demand their money back. India’s verdict -- which was earlier estimated to cost local airlines more than $500m -- may a precedent for such disputes elsewhere, and make the road to recovery even steeper. While the South Asian nation has indefinitely banned scheduled international flights, local airlines are allowed to operate domestically with a limited schedule. Still, most airlines struggled to fill even 70% of seats in August, and more than two thirds of passenger complaints were related to refunds, data from the aviation regulator showed.<br/>