Why IndiGo is in trouble over viral video of flyers eating on Mumbai airport tarmac

Delayed flights, dense fog and hassled passengers have been grabbing headlines for the past few days in India. And through all this chaos, budget airlines IndiGo has been thrown into the limelight. The domestic carrier is facing flak over several flight disruptions owing to intense fog in Delhi and other places in northern India and its handling of passengers.

Now, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has issued a show-cause notice to IndiGo Airlines and Mumbai Airport after a video of passengers eating food on the tarmac spread online on Monday (15 January).

What happened and what has the civil aviation ministry said in its notice? Let’s take a closer look.

Flyers dine on tarmac in Mumbai

The passengers of a Goa-Delhi flight that was diverted to Mumbai owing to poor visibility in the National Capital on Sunday (14 January) were seen dining on the apron upon disembarking. In the video that went viral on social media, flyers can be seen seated on the tarmac and eating food next to the parked IndiGo aircraft. The incident sparked safety concerns as the apron is designated for aircraft activities.

As per a Hindustan Times (HT) report, the Indigo flight – 6E2195 – was slated to take off around 2.25 pm on Sunday. However, the plane got delayed by a few hours and after take-off, it was diverted to Mumbai where it landed at 11.40 pm.

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The ground staff connected the aircraft with the stepladder and the passengers were asked to deboard. As the angry flyers disembarked, they refused to enter the terminal building of the Mumbai airport, HT reported.

Many disgruntled passengers demanded the flight be taken directly to Delhi. Videos showed some flyers with their food packets, eating on the apron.

An airline official told HT that Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel had to be called to remove them from the tarmac and take them to a safety zone.

The flight finally took off for Delhi at 2.39 am on Monday. IndiGo said it was aware of the incident and apologised to the customers, saying it was “currently looking into the incident”.

According to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, the passengers were “irate” due to the flight delay in Goa and left the aircraft as soon as it landed in Mumbai.

“The airport operators in coordination with CISF’s quick response team cordoned off the passengers into a safety zone as they refused to get into the airline coach and proceed to the terminal building. The passengers were kept under strict watch of airline authorities and security personnel until further actions were taken,” a spokesperson of the Mumbai airport was quoted as saying by HT.

ALSO READ: Why India is facing massive flight delays and what flyers can do

Civil Aviation ministry issues show cause

The show cause notice was issued to IndiGo Airlines and Mumbai Airport on Tuesday by Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) after the video of passengers sitting on the tarmac surfaced on social media. The notice came after Union Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia convened a late-night meeting with ministry officials on Monday amid multiple reports of delayed flights causing inconvenience to passengers.

Blaming both IndiGo Airlines and the Mumbai airport, the BCAS said in its notice that they were not “proactive in anticipating the situation and making the appropriate facilitation arrangements for passengers at the airport”, reported India Today.

Pointing out the lapses in handling the situation, the ministry said the aircraft was allotted a remote bay C-33 instead of a Contact Stand, which is an aircraft parking stand suited for walking passengers to and from the plane and an allocated boarding gate.

“This further added to passenger woes and deprived them the opportunity to avail basic facilities like restrooms and refreshments at the terminal,” the notice reportedly read.

The aviation ministry sought comprehensive responses from both IndiGo and Mumbai Airport by today. “If replies are not received in the given time, then enforcement action, including financial penalty, will be initiated,” BCAS warned.

What rules were broken?

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) underscores strict monitoring during the movement of flyers on the apron to ensure safety, according to Economic Times (ET).

IndiGo has been accused of allowing passengers to alight on the apron and later board flight 6E 2091 on 15 January without proper security checks, leading to certain violations, reported Times of India (TOI). An official told the English daily that by not reporting the incident to BCAS, IndiGo breached Rule 51 of the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023.

The Mumbai airport has been pulled up for not flagging the incident to the Airport Security Group (ASG) of Mumbai.

A senior ministry official denounced the airlines for failing to ensure passenger convenience, security norms, and operational issues, terming the incident an “unfavourable and unacceptable experience for the tired and harassed passengers”, reported TOI.  

With inputs from agencies