New Delhi: Air India passenger allegedly abused and assaulted a senior official on a Sydney-Delhi flight on July 9. The cabin supervisor was summoned, and the passenger was “issued a verbal and written warning,” who added that despite the physical assault, no restraining devices were employed by the crew to keep the rowdy customer in check.
According to a source, the incident occurred when an Air India official, who was forced to shift from his business class seat to the economy class owing to a seat failure, asked the accused to speak softly.
According to the source, the Air India officer was assigned seat 30-C in economy class. He chose row 25 because there were other passengers.
The source said, “The official requested his co-passenger to speak softly. But he slapped the official, twisted his head and abused him.’
They added, “This unruly passenger was fiddling with the emergency equipment and walking freely in the aisle.”
Air India’s statement, “A passenger on board AI-301 operating Sydney-Delhi on July 9, 2023, behaved in an unacceptable manner during the flight, despite verbal and written warnings, causing distress to other passengers, which included one of our employees.”
The airline added, “Upon the flight’s safe landing in Delhi, the passenger was handed over to the security agency, and he later apologised in writing.’
“We will pursue this to the full extent of the law.”
