Air India defends flight cancellation for IPL

Hours after reports emerged that Poorna Patel, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter may have violated norms by facilitating the cancellation of a Air India commercial flight for her use to ferry IPL players, the Air India CMD has defended its decision to convert the flight to a chartered one, saying there was no violation of the civil aviaion rules. The airline also says there was no political pressure to convert the flight.
A Delhi to Coimbatore Air India flight, IC 7603, scheduled to leave at 5.20am on April 20, was reportedly aborted less than 12 hours before its departure to allow the aircraft to be deployed as a chartered flight for ferrying Poorna Patel, and The AI Chairman and Managing Director said today (April 23), "The decision to pull out a scheduled AI flight for the IPL players on April 20 was a purely commercial decision at the operational level and regional executive directors are empowered in doing so."
The CMD categorically stated that such decisions are taken very often by AI as chartered flight operation is a lucrative business for any airline.
23/04/10 Times Now.tv

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Categories: Air India Regional Apr 2010, NACIL Apr 2010