Air India in safety row, punishes 9 employees

Air India has derostered nine employees, including two pilots, for taking on board three passengers in excess of the aircraft capacity on its flight two months ago and begun its own investigation to pin down others responsible for the violation of safety and security rules.

The incident occurred on May five when its Mumbai-Mangalore flight IC-179 took off with three passengers in addition to the 1720-passenger capacity of the Airbus A-321 aircraft operating the service, an AI spokesperson said.

One of the three extra passengers was also seated inside the cockpit on the 'jump seat' (the third seat besides the two meant for pilot and co-pilot) in complete violation of security guidelines, while the other two were accommodated on seats meant for the cabin crew.

These additional passengers were issued manual boarding passes as the computerised ones cannot be generated after a flight is completely booked.

The incident came to light when Directorate General of Civil Aviation was carrying out a probe into an incident involving the same flight at Mumbai airport in which the aircraft was towed back even before the aircraft doors were closed, damaging the aerobridge attached to it.

Acknowledging the incident, the spokesman said the commander of the flight, the co-pilot, a ground engineer, a driver of the tow tractor and five commercial staff were derostered.

The DGCA, which submitted its report on June 26, pointed out that during its investigation some Air India staffers had "deliberately tampered" with the 'load and trim sheet' of the flight.

The trim sheet is a record of a flight detailing the total number of passengers, the weights of cargo and baggage, the number of crew members it is carrying and information like aircraft balance, its centre of gravity and other technical inputs.

"We will take all measures recommended by the DGCA and there is no question of covering up to shield anyone," the spokesperson said but maintained that though security and safety norms were flouted in this case, there was "no threat to the lives of the passengers".

Announcing that the airline has ordered its own probe following the DGCA report, he said the inquiry would be carried out by the Executive Director of the Western Region into the manual issuance of boarding passes to the extra passengers, pinpointing responsibility and recommending disciplinary action against those involved.

Those found responsible in this probe would face strict disciplinary action, he said, adding that guidelines have been issued to all employees to ensure that safety rules and regulations, prescribed by the DGCA, were strictly followed.