Air India sued over data breach, flyer seeks Rs 30 lakh in damages

Air India has been sued by a flyer over the recent personal data leak of 4.5 million customers.

Ritika Handoo, a journalist from Delhi, has sought damages of Rs 30 lakh from the airline for the breach of data. She has termed the breach as a violation of her "right to be forgotten and informational autonomy".

Handoo's legal notice says that Air India informed her about the leak on June 1, news agency PTI reported.


A sophisticated hacking attack on Air India's passenger service system provider SITA resulted in the theft of personal data of 4.5 million passengers in February. Victims include flyers from across the world, the airline said.

SITA is based in Geneva, Switzerland.

Data registered between August 26, 2011 and February 20, 2021, were stolen by the hackers. Details that were compromised include name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, etc. among other.

Frequent flyer data and credit card data were also affected, the airline stated. No password data, however, were compromised, it added.

In her notice, Handoo accused Air India of "knowingly, intentionally and deliberately leaking the personal data and for breach of sensitive information.”

Chapter VII of the Company's Customer Care Data Privacy Policy unequivocally states that "all customers retain control over their data/information to the extent possible so as to change the personal information in your records except in exceptional circumstances where it's a law and order issue," PTI reported.