Air India has always had its huge fans and vociferous detractors. In recent years, as its losses have mounted, there’s been an increasing clamour that it should be sold to a private operator and cease to be a drain on the exchequer. The concept of a national carrier, goes the argument, belongs to another, distant era when air travel was a novelty. Today, it’s argued, we’ve moved into the age of dime-a-dozen low-cost airlines.
And yet, time and again, at times of crisis, it’s Air India (and, before that, the erstwhile Indian Airlines) that is called on to undertake tough and occasionally hazardous rescue missions that are in reality far beyond the call of duty. To their eternal credit, the staff have never backed away from even the most gargantuan challenge. In the 1990s both Air India and Indian Airlines were called into service to evacuate 110,000 Indians from Kuwait (via Amman) over two months when the Gulf War erupted.
This feat earned Air India a place in the Guinness Book of Records. In 2015, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Air India between them evacuated 4,640 Indians from Sana’a when the Saudis attacked Yemen. Now, Air India is swooping into disease-stricken regions like Wuhan and, most recently, Milan to bring back Indians and other South Asians.
So it seems particularly egregious — in fact a disgrace to our society — that Air India had to issue a media statement decrying, “vigilante resident welfare association and neighbours” who have, “started ostracising the crew... or even calling in the police, simply because the crew travelled abroad in the course of their duty”.
The statement adds that the children of staffers are not being allowed to play with neighbours’ children and even says: “We don’t want to be treated like untouchables.” IndiGo has also evacuated smaller numbers from places like Jeddah. The airline reports that its crews, too, are facing similar difficulties in neighbourhoods where they live.
Coronavirus is a global-scale catastrophe and we all need to take precautions. But that makes it all the more important to stick together and show kindness towards one and all. Irrational and positively cruel behaviour to airline staffers who are doing their jobs and taking risks in the line of national duty shames us all.
24/03/20 Business Line
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And yet, time and again, at times of crisis, it’s Air India (and, before that, the erstwhile Indian Airlines) that is called on to undertake tough and occasionally hazardous rescue missions that are in reality far beyond the call of duty. To their eternal credit, the staff have never backed away from even the most gargantuan challenge. In the 1990s both Air India and Indian Airlines were called into service to evacuate 110,000 Indians from Kuwait (via Amman) over two months when the Gulf War erupted.
This feat earned Air India a place in the Guinness Book of Records. In 2015, the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Air India between them evacuated 4,640 Indians from Sana’a when the Saudis attacked Yemen. Now, Air India is swooping into disease-stricken regions like Wuhan and, most recently, Milan to bring back Indians and other South Asians.
So it seems particularly egregious — in fact a disgrace to our society — that Air India had to issue a media statement decrying, “vigilante resident welfare association and neighbours” who have, “started ostracising the crew... or even calling in the police, simply because the crew travelled abroad in the course of their duty”.
The statement adds that the children of staffers are not being allowed to play with neighbours’ children and even says: “We don’t want to be treated like untouchables.” IndiGo has also evacuated smaller numbers from places like Jeddah. The airline reports that its crews, too, are facing similar difficulties in neighbourhoods where they live.
Coronavirus is a global-scale catastrophe and we all need to take precautions. But that makes it all the more important to stick together and show kindness towards one and all. Irrational and positively cruel behaviour to airline staffers who are doing their jobs and taking risks in the line of national duty shames us all.
24/03/20 Business Line
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