Minister on road, plane in the sky

Calcutta: Indian aviation has broken free of the Maharajah mindset, at least for a day.
A Jet Airways flight scheduled to ferry civil aviation minister Praful Patel to Calcutta left Delhi without him today as he was late in reaching the airport.
Patel was booked on the Delhi-Calcutta Jet Airways flight, 9W 922, scheduled to take off at 9.45am.
“The minister started for the airport on time. But he was stuck in a traffic jam caused by a college event and knew he would not make it in time for the Jet flight. So he had to change to an Air Deccan flight that left shortly after Jet,” a civil aviation ministry official in Delhi told The Telegraph.
A Jet Airways official said the airline got in touch with the minister when it became apparent that he would be late. “Since he was stuck in traffic, we decided to take off after informing him,” the official said in Calcutta. “The minister appreciated this (the airline’s punctuality record) and took it in good spirit.”
The flight took off on time and reached Calcutta at noon. Patel took the Air Deccan flight, DN 702, and landed soon after.
07/09/07 Sanjay Mandal/The Telegraph

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air Deccan Sep 2007, General Aviation Sep 2007, Jet Airways Sep 2007