Air India tries to cover up for not reporting two urination incidents

Top officials of India’s aviation regulatory body DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) are fuming that Air India did not report two shocking incidents of passenger urinating on a co-passenger within a span of 11 days. According to the aviation regulator, the incident on Air India flight of November 26 from JFK ( New York ) to Delhi and again on December 6 from Paris to Delhi was not reported to the regulators and, in fact, both incidents were sought to be covered up by the airline. “Prima facie, it appears that the Air India cockpit and cabin crew were involved in a cover-up of the entire incidents by not reporting them to the regulatory body.” According to regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation or DGCA, “it appears that provisions related to handling an unruly passenger on board have not been complied with. The conduct of the concerned airline appears to be unprofessional and has led to a systemic failure. It lacks appreciation of regulatory obligations.” The DGCA sources believe that the onboard operational levels of the airline clearly worked out a cover up by attempting to push these horrific incidents under the carpet. The regulatory body particularly showed displeasure over the December 6 incident, which in fact was earlier reported to Delhi’s Air Traffic Controller (ATC) about an unruly passenger who urinated on a blanket draped around a female co-passenger in-flight. The offending passenger was pulled aside at Delhi airport but no action was taken as he gave a written apology to the passenger. Even in this case, the cabin crew and the airline did not inform the regulator and basically silenced the matter among themselves.