Two big airline companies, AirAsia India and Vistara, with a combined market share of 11.4 per cent, did not act upon stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra for heckling Arnab Goswami on board an IndiGo flight, because such action, even if advised by Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, would be in transgression laid down regulations, according to sources with direct knowledge of the developments.
To deviate from the civil aviation requirement as specified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would call for written instructions from the government, the sources said. As of now, they said, the two airlines have initiated independent enquiries by referring the Kamra-Goswami episode to their respective internal committees.
Vistara and AirAsia India stood out among half a dozen national airlines and refraining from acting hastily on the Kamra incident while IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir banned him from taking their flights. IndiGo banned him for six months after the episode on board its Mumbai-Lucknow flight on January 28. Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir banned him “until further notice”.
A senior executive in one of the two airlines, who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express: “We cannot consider tweets to be official instructions. We need to follow the DGCA rules, which require such matters to be investigated first by an internal committee. Even if we were to go by what the government is saying, we need to follow the process, and it was not possible in a matter of a few hours.”
An e-mail query sent to the two airlines did not elicit a response. A senior government official, in fact, raised questions over other airlines banning Kamra, pending a decision by IndiGo’s internal committee. “The relevant civil aviation requirement says that for any person, who is placed in the no-fly list, other airlines shall have the option to ban him from taking flights. But a person would end up on the no-fly list only when its internal committee takes a decision,” the official told The Indian Express. Pending such an enquiry, only the concerned airline — IndiGo, in this case — may ban the passenger from flying.
01/02/20 Pranav Mukul, Anil Sasi/Indian Express
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To deviate from the civil aviation requirement as specified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) would call for written instructions from the government, the sources said. As of now, they said, the two airlines have initiated independent enquiries by referring the Kamra-Goswami episode to their respective internal committees.
Vistara and AirAsia India stood out among half a dozen national airlines and refraining from acting hastily on the Kamra incident while IndiGo, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir banned him from taking their flights. IndiGo banned him for six months after the episode on board its Mumbai-Lucknow flight on January 28. Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir banned him “until further notice”.
A senior executive in one of the two airlines, who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express: “We cannot consider tweets to be official instructions. We need to follow the DGCA rules, which require such matters to be investigated first by an internal committee. Even if we were to go by what the government is saying, we need to follow the process, and it was not possible in a matter of a few hours.”
An e-mail query sent to the two airlines did not elicit a response. A senior government official, in fact, raised questions over other airlines banning Kamra, pending a decision by IndiGo’s internal committee. “The relevant civil aviation requirement says that for any person, who is placed in the no-fly list, other airlines shall have the option to ban him from taking flights. But a person would end up on the no-fly list only when its internal committee takes a decision,” the official told The Indian Express. Pending such an enquiry, only the concerned airline — IndiGo, in this case — may ban the passenger from flying.
01/02/20 Pranav Mukul, Anil Sasi/Indian Express
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