Aviation minister apologises for Rijiju and Fadnavis but Air India's problems run deep

New Delhi: The Minister of Civil Aviation today offered an unconditional apology for Air India’s abominable conduct in preferring VIP passengers over regular, paid ones and that is reassuring. But it does not even begin the address the problems Air India is faced with. In a hastily convened presser this evening, A Gajapathi Raju said “we regret it” even as he admitted that neither the sequence of events nor accountability in the recent episodes was clear as of now. The ministry continues to await a report from Air India on exactly what transpired on two flights which were allegedly delayed due to VIP tantrums. The minister also acknowledged that the Prime Minister’s Office has sought a detailed report on the two incidents. [caption id=“attachment_2317494” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] Now, after Air India does manage to submit a report of the two incidents, Raju will consult civil aviation secretary RN Choubey before deciding on a course of action. Though the minister hesitated to say what the action or actions would be, isn’t it only natural to expect some heads to roll in Air India for inconveniencing hundreds of passengers just for a handful of VIPs? Air India has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this past week, prompting sceptics to again question the rationale of this government shying away from privatising the white elephant. The airline continues to bleed despite thousands of crores having been pumped in as equity over the years, has missed key milestones of its turnaround plan and is facing stiff competition from private airlines. Now, to top it all, Air India was found allegedly putting paid passengers to inconvenience due to preference for VVIPs and their tantrums. This lead to flight delays on at least two occasions for entirely avoidable reasons. Should the government not do a serious rethink on its Air India fetish? First, there was an alleged incident, denied by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, where he delayed an Air India flight to the United States. An official e-mail available with CNN-IBN confirms that he did hold up the flight for 57 minutes. According to the email, the flight was delayed because Fadnavis’ principal secretary Praveen Pardeshi had forgotten to carry his old passport which had the US visa. The email further states that Fadnavis refused to leave without his principal secretary. The flight was delayed by close to an hour and the airline has claimed the delay was for a variety of reasons. The second incident allegedly happened on a Leh-Delhi flight, which was delayed for about an hour. Additionally, three booked passengers were offloaded, again allegedly to accommodate junior Home Minister Kiren Rijuju and the Deputy Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Nirmal Singh. Rijuju had contested this version of events but later issued an apology. Raju said these incidents should not have happened and will direct the airline to avoid them in future. It is interesting to note that though Raju has shown concern over inconveniencing passengers due to VIP tantrums, earlier this year, he had clearly stated in Parliament that privileges for Members of Parliament are not being reduced at Indian airports today. He had said that netas can continue to ask for tea/coffee free of charge, get access to terminal building, visitors’ gallery etc. And each airport operator will continue to be obliged to designate a protocol officer to deal with such individuals. But why should VIPs be allowed to delay flights or get booked passengers offloaded? This is a question which may haunt the civil aviation minister and the national carrier in weeks to come as they both grapple with an increasing sense of unease among the general public over privileges VIPs enjoy.