IndiGo passenger manhandling: Airline defends staff in letter to aviation minister, MoCA to decide further course of action

What's the issue?

The violence incident at the Delhi airport involving Rajeev Katyal, a passenger flying with IndiGo, and ground staff of the airline has opened a fresh debate on the accountability and ethical practices of the carriers. IndiGo seems to have emerged as the biggest perpetrator with two major incidents reported in less than a week. On November 5, badminton player P.V. Sindhu complained against IndiGo saying that the airline staff misbehaved with the shuttler before she was boarding a Hyderabad to Mumbai flight in the morning. In a tweet, Sindhu had said that the employee spoke rudely to her. The airline, however, refuted her claims.

The incident with Katyal took place on October 15 at the Delhi airport but it came into light after a video went viral on social media showing three members of IndiGo's ground staff manhandling a passenger after an altercation. Within a few hours of going viral, the airline confirmed the incident. Aditya Ghosh, the president of IndiGo, in a press statement, said that he had apologized to Katyal on the day of the incident, and following an internal investigation, the guilty staff - Montu Kalra, the alleged whistleblower - was terminated by the airline. The other two employees, including the staff (Juby Thomas) that assaulted Katyal, were reportedly given warning letters.

The civil aviation minister for state Jayant Sinha Minister called the incident "deplorable and unfortunate". The minister said that he will meet the sacked employee and that ministry of civil aviation has asked for a detailed report from IndiGo by Wednesday.

Since the public outrage, a lot of aggrieved customers have come out and spoken against their ordeal. People started tagging their complaints on social media with hashtags #BoycottIndiGo and #TarmacTerrorTape. Some people likened the airline to United Airlines (of the US) which earned a bad reputation after the airline crew forcefully dragged a passenger out of the aircraft in April this year. Some people said that the airline has become arrogant over the years as it has grown in size and scale. In September, IndiGo's market share stood at 38.3 per cent, the highest among all domestic carriers.

What went wrong?

In the afternoon, IndiGo issued another letter in its defence. The letter was marked to aviation minister A. Gajapathi Raju explaining the whole incident. IndiGo's Ghosh said that "we were at fault and we not only apologize for this regrettable incident, we have also taken action."

The letter explains the whole incident through a series of screenshots of the video. In what seems like a contradictory to its previous statements claiming that the employees' actions were opposite to the IndiGo's customer service, Ghosh's letter then goes on to defend the employees.

While the initial provocation that led to fisticuffs between Katyal and Thomas is still not clear, it's hard to understand that Katyal was barred from boarding the bus, and the situation turned unpleasant thereafter. Even if there was provocation in the form of verbal abuse (as it is reported in the letter) from the passenger, IndiGo's staff had the option of complaining to higher authorities.

In fact, Ghosh's letter says that "whatever may have been the provocation, whether verbal or physical abuse, we could have tried to display more restraint." It appears that the incident has tarnished the reputation of the airline in a big way. By resorting to physical violence, it seems that the airline has lost all the chances to make people believe in its story.

What next?

As per DGCA (director general of civil aviation) data, IndiGo is the third worst airline when it comes to consumer complaints for several months. For instance, the airline recorded 74 complaints from passengers in September, lower than Jet Airways' 213 and Air India's 208.

After the Ghosh's letter, the ball is now in MoCA's (ministry of civil aviation) court. The minister has to decide on whether the airline deserves to be penalized and the quantum of such a punishment. The growing number of passenger complaints also calls for IndiGo to look inwards and assess the reasons that are causing such instances frequently. The hospitality industry players like IndiGo risks losing their reputation with such instances that last in the public memory for a long time.

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