A day after IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India imposed a flying ban on TDP MP Diwakar Reddy, all major domestic airlines, including seven air carriers, followed suit on Friday and banned Reddy for the "unruly behaviour" he had displayed on Thursday. Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju, who belongs to the same political party as Reddy, also ordered a probe into the alleged incident that took place at the Visakhapatnam airport.
On Thursday, IndiGo was the first airline to bar him after he misbehaved with its employees, and on Friday morning, AirAsia, GoAir, Jet Airways and Vistara joined three other carriers in barring the Parliamentarian, for whom this is not the first instance of misbehaviour. This is the second time that Reddy has allegedly behaved outrageously at an airport. Last October, the Air India office at Gannavaram airport in Vijayawada was the scene of his tantrums.
Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Minister tweeted: "I will get the entire incident at Vizag Airport enquired into to find out the exact details and ensure that lawful outcomes follow." Raju happened to be in the VVIP lounge of the airport when the incident took place. Officials close to the minister said Reddy marched off to the lounge to seek the minister's help, but Raju refused to interfere.
On Thursday, IndiGo had denied Reddy a boarding pass — as per regulations — because he checked in late for a Visakhapatnam-Hyderabad flight. According to the regulations set by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, check-in counters at airports must close 45 minutes before the scheduled take-off of an aircraft. Reddy arrived 28 minutes before his flight was set to take off. After being refused a boarding card, Reddy became abusive and damaged some furniture as well as a printer, Indigo staffers have claimed.
Reddy was reportedly later allowed to board the same flight he intended to take, which was thus delayed beyond its departure time of 8.10 pm. Reddy has, however, rebuffed the charges of creating a ruckus and said he did not misbehave with any IndiGo official. The TDP MP also categorically denied that he had lost his temper or assaulted anyone at the airport. Instead, he accused private airlines of fleecing passengers.
Trouble flies in
In March, another MP, Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Gaikwad, allegedly attacked a senior Air India staffer. The Centre then released its draft rules for a national no-fly list for unruly passengers and proposed a ban on flying from three months up to an indefinite period.
The government is likely to finalise these rules by the end of this month.
