New Delhi: Immediately after national carrier Air India blacklisted Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad following his brazen assault on an officer, four private Indian carriers are also likely to bar the lawmaker from flying.
The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), having Jet Airways, IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir as its members, said that it has taken a ‘strong view of the incident’ and accordingly decided to bar Gaikwad from flying.
The FIA will not allow the Sena MP to fly on its member carriers, a new agency confirmed the development claiming a source.
SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh said: “SpiceJet supports a no-fly list to bar unruly flyers who are a safety hazard for not just the crew but even the traveling public. The government needs to act on this soon. An attack on our employees and crew is an attack on us and we strongly condemn such incidents.”
However, FIA Associate Director Ujjwal Dey said that the association has not banned Gaikwad from flying on carriers that are represented by it.
“We have not banned the MP. We do not have powers to ban anyone. In any case, Air India is not part of the FIA,” Dey told India TV.
Aviation minister A G Raju had tweeted: “We are also working on creating institutional mechanisms to check undesirable flight behaviour or unruly passengers. Such regrettable incidents should never happen again.”
Upset at being seated in the economy section of an aircraft with no business seats, Gaikwad had beaten up an Air India staffer “25 times” with his sandals and tried to throw him out of the aircraft on arrival in Delhi Thursday.