Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has asked the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to conduct an “independent inquiry” into the case of an IndiGo employee allegedly manhandling a passenger at Delhi airport on October 15. Separately, the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has sent a notice asking the carrier why it did not follow procedure.
A video of a passenger not being allowed to board the airline’s bus and the scuffle that ensued went viral last night.
“This is not an incident that has happened yesterday; it happened a few days back and I understand that some (procedures) have not been followed,” said Minister Raju.
However, no deadline has been fixed for the DGCA and BCAS to submit their reports.
Meanwhile, IndiGo promoter Rahul Bhatia met Raju in Delhi. “We will send a report to the government, which will be made public,” Bhatia told BusinessLine after the meeting. A short while later, the airline released a letter by Aditya Ghosh, its President and Whole-Time Director, to Raju.
“...let me start off by acknowledging that we were at fault and we not only apologise for this regrettable incident, but we have also taken action,” Ghosh said. The letter notes that Ghosh personally “called and apologised” to the passenger three weeks back.
It adds that the airline recognised that whatever may have been the provocation, “my colleagues should have exercised restraint. Even while the investigation was being conducted, we immediately suspended the involved employees.”