Kangana Ranaut - Indigo fiasco: Other notable airline incidents from the past that came under scrutiny

There’s been plenty of kerfuffle among the media as well as political circles over Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut’s arrival in Mumbai a few days ago. 

Videos that surfaced earlier today have shown how her flight on Indigo was densely crowded by media persons with no scope for social distancing and following the guidelines set out by the Central Government as well as the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA.

Though this incident may have gotten the attention due to the current spotlight on the Bollywood actress, there have been multiple instances in the past where people were shown to be flouting rules and regulations mid-air. Let’s take a look at a few such episodes from the past.

In January this year, a video emerged wherein comedian Kunal Kamra was shown to be heckling the editor-in-chief of Republic Media Network, Arnab Goswami on an Indigo flight. The video also showed that the conversation was mostly one-sided, leading to this being deemed as harassment of a fellow passenger. 

Consequently, though Kamra eventually apologized to the airline staff for the incident, he was banned by Indigo for six months, while other airlines like Vistara, Air India followed suit, but with differing ban timelines. 

Following the incident, Kamra defended his position on Twitter saying “I did this for my hero...I did it for Rohit” referring to Rohith Vemula, a PhD scholar from the University of Hyderabad who committed suicide in January 2016 and sparked a new debate about the issues pertaining to caste biases in India.

 Holi Celebrations On a Spicejet Flight

This incident took place in March 2014 when a video surfaced showing SpiceJet cabin crew dancing during a flight, while one of the pilots was shown to be exiting the cockpit to capture the moments on his phone. The DGCA found that this was in violation of all safety norms while the two pilots were suspended and a show-cause notice was sent to the airline.

For its part, SpiceJet defended itself saying that the cockpit was never unmanned, and that standard protocols were followed, like in situations when a pilot has to use the lavatory mid-flight. SpiceJet included extra cabin crew on eight special flights to commemorate Holi, though it seems like the airline failed to clear it with the DGCA first.

Sonu Nigam’s Mid-Air Concert

This incident takes us to February 2014 when Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to sing some of his popular tunes using the in-air public address system on a chartered Jet Airways flight from Jodhpur to Mumbai on January 4.

 “All cabin crew on the flight have been taken off flight duty for inquiry and corrective training to reinforce strict adherence to operating procedures”, the DGCA said at the time. 

Sonu Nigam meanwhile was not on the same wavelength as the DGCA, saying “This act of lack of Common Sense, according to me, is Real Intolerance.”