AirAsia India sacks pilot Gaurav Taneja after his video alleging violations of safety regulations; DGCA issues notice to airline

AirAsia India sacked pilot and blogger Gaurav Taneja on Friday, days after he publicly alleged violations of safety regulations in the airline, media reports said. Taneja tweeted about his termination around midnight on 28 June.

I was terminated from airasia for raising safety issues!
Now, the same issues are raised by #DGCA to @AirAsiaIndian. Justice will prevail! #Sabkeliye

— Gaurav Taneja (@flyingbeast320) June 28, 2020

On Sunday, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) sent a show cause notice to an executive of AirAsia India over the allegations made by Taneja. Earlier, on 15 June, the DGCA had said on Twitter that it had “taken note of the concerns raised by some stakeholders against a particular Airline and its approach to safety”. [caption id=“attachment_8539261” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Gaurav Taneja, the pilot terminated by AirAsia India. MoneyControl[/caption] On 14 June, Taneja had said that he was suspended by the airline for “standing up for safe operations of an aircraft and its passengers.” He also uploaded a video on YouTube, in which he specifically mentioned that the airline had asked pilots to carry out 98 percent of landings on “Flap 3” mode, which allows them to save fuel. Flaps are part of an aircraft’s wings and are brought into operation while taking off or landing. He also alleged that the airline was not following protocols in place in March when the coronavirus was spreading, although he did not elaborate on the protocols he was referring to. However, a report in The News Minute quoted sources as saying, “All this is because of him (Taneja) having behavioural issues which weren’t in sync with company policies, and this was monitored over the last one year.” According to a MoneyControl report, the termination notice issued to Taneja was due to him “not appearing for an investigation started by the airline, going public on social media without following the due company process of redressal, breach of non-disclosure agreement and photography in the cockpit in breach of company and DGCA norms.”