New Delhi, Jul 25 (PTI) As many as 11 lakh passengers were impacted by flight delays this year till May, and airlines shelled out nearly Rs 13 crore for providing facilities to them, according to the Civil Aviation Ministry.

In 2023, as many as 22.51 lakh passengers were impacted due to flight delays and carriers spent over Rs 26.53 crore for them.

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The count stood at 14.83 lakh in 2022, and the amount shelled out by airlines in this regard stood at more than Rs 15.87 crore.

The data was provided in a written reply to the Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday.

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As per the data for this year till May, the flight delays hit 11 lakh passengers, and airlines spent a little over Rs 12.85 crore to provide facilities to them.

In 2021, as many as 8.03 lakh passengers were impacted and the amount spent by airlines stood at Rs 3.91 crore.

The data showed that in 2020, which was also the year when Covid hit the aviation sector, a total of 2.06 lakh passengers were impacted due to flight delays while the money spent by airlines for providing facilities to the passengers stood at Rs 62.07 lakh.

"Scheduled domestic airlines operate their flights, as per the schedules approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). However, at times flights are delayed due to various reasons, which include weather, technical, operational etc," the minister said.

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