Low-cost carrier IndiGo’s captain who flew the Mumbai-Lucknow flight when the incident involving comedian Kunal Kamra and TV journalist Arnab Goswami took place, in an email communication, said that Kamra was not unruly, and did not disobey or violate any crew instructions. The captain also sought clarification from IndiGo on the ban.

The captain, in a post-incident communication, wrote: “As captain of 6E5317 BOM-LKO on 28.01.2020, I do not find the aforementioned events reportable in any way. Mr Kamra’s behaviour while unsavoury, was NOT qualifying of a Level 1 Unruly passenger. Indeed we pilots can all attest to incidents similar and/or worse in nature that were not deemed Unruly.” The communication was reviewed by BusinessLine .

Kamra had posted a video on Twitter of his one-sided confrontation with Goswami. After the video went viral, civil aviation authorities directed that the former be banned from flying for six months. Kamra has been banned by four airlines including IndiGo since.

Crew instructions

The captain further stated in his communication: “While Mr Kamra’s behaviour was unacceptable and verbally abusive, at no point did he not comply with Crew instructions. While he did briefly display Level 1 traits for Disruptive behaviour (ICAO Doc 9811), he was also immediately compliant of crew instruction, was never issued a red warning card and hence cannot be classified as such.”

He further added that in line with the IndiGo SEP Manual guidelines for ‘Disruptive Behaviour’, “the situation was diffused, the passenger in question kept under observation and the cabin kept in lockdown for the duration of the flight. Hence, no further action on the part of the Cockpit Crew was required. The LCA advised me she would be filing a report on her end in-line with Cabin Crew guidelines.”

“…I do not find the aforementioned events reportable in any way,” he added.

The caption further demanded a clarification from the airline: “Moving forward, am I to understand that the bar for interpretation of a Disruptive passenger is lower/different when it comes to high profile cases? Perhaps the SEP Manual is to be amended to reflect this? I would like a clarification from the Airline as this leaves a lot of room for ambiguity.”

In response to BusinessLine’s query, IndiGo said: “We have received the relevant statements and the internal committee has initiated the investigation regarding this incident.”

What actually happened

The captain said: “After pushback I was informed by the LCA that two gentlemen were involved in a verbal altercation and that it had been noticed prior to commencement of the flight. One was seated on 13A (Mr Kunal Kamra) and the other on 1B (Mr Arnab Goswami). I was informed that Mr Kamra had tried to engage with Mr Goswami, who did not respond. Mr Kamra was asked by the LCA to return to his seat as the safety demonstrations were underway and the seat belt signs were on. Upon receiving this instruction, Mr Kamra apologised to the LCA and returned to his seat.”

According to the captain, the seat belt signs remained on the entire flight. “After the start of cabin service, the flight deck was contacted by the LCA to inform us that Mr Kamra was back in the passenger aisle by Row 1 speaking in a raised voice to Mr. Goswami. She mentioned that she was informed by a passenger that Mr Kamra had briefly used abusive language. Upon hearing this I turned the surveillance on from the cockpit to observe the events at Row 1. I noticed Mr Kamra gesticulating to Mr Goswami who was unresponsive. I did not observe any physical contact between the two gentlemen at any point.”

“At this time I made a Passenger Address to the cabin asking the gentleman standing in the passenger aisle near Row 1 to return to his seat, and that any disagreements they may have could be sorted out on the ground after the conclusion of the flight. Mr. Kamra upon hearing this immediately apologised again to the LCA, relayed an apology to me via the LCA and subsequently returned to his seat.”

“After the flight when most passengers had deplaned, Mr Kamra requested permission to enter the flight deck to speak with me to personally apologize again. He did so. I asked him if his issue was political in nature, which he confirmed. I advised him that while we are all entitled to our opinions, there was a time and place to voice them and that mid-flight was no place for it. He agreed, thanked us and left the aircraft.”

“The flight deck crew briefly encountered Mr Kamra again outside the LKO terminal where we were waiting for Hotel Transport. He apologised again and left.”