Man assaults IndiGo pilot after delay in flight, is arrested

Following the incident, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday cautioned that unruly passengers will be “dealt with strongly”. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), meanwhile, issued a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for airlines, including asking them to publish accurate real-time information regarding flight delays on their websites, and inform passengers by text messages/ email.

Since Sunday, social media platforms have been replete with posts from angry passengers complaining about long delays and cancellations, and even being stuck in aircraft for hours.

#Watch | A passenger on board a Delhi to Goa flight of Indigo Airlines assaults the plane’s pilot after a purported delay of 13 hours due to foggy conditions on Sunday evening

Read here: https://t.co/kKEO9zPkaR pic.twitter.com/m3aSivmWbH

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) January 15, 2024

As many as 508 outbound flights from the IGI Airport were delayed while 87 were cancelled on Sunday, as per data from flight tracking service Flightradar24. Further, 414 inbound flights were delayed and 42 were cancelled.

Regarding the IndiGo incident, Devesh Mahla, Deputy Commissioner of Police at Indira Gandhi International Airport, said they received a complaint from the pilot, Anup Kumar, alleging that Kataria had assaulted and misbehaved with him.

“He hit the pilot and created nuisance on the aircraft. A complaint has been received from Kumar and an FIR has been registered for voluntarily causing hurt and wrongful restraint,” said Mahla.

The video of Kataria rushing towards the pilot and lunging forward to hit him was recorded and posted online by a Russian model and actress, Evgenia Belskaia, who was on the same flight.

“Every hour, the IndiGo flight staff would come and say there is one-hour delay, two-hour delay, so like this they made us wait for 10 hours,” Belskaia said in a video she posted online. After the long wait, when passengers were finally asked to board the flight, Belskaia said the airline made them wait for an additional two hours inside the aircraft.

#WATCH | Russian actress Evgenia Belskaia was on the same IndiGo flight as Sahil Kataria, who assaulted the pilot. In a video, she details what led to the incident.

Read more: https://t.co/kKEO9zPkaR pic.twitter.com/XpKnykiNwe

— The Indian Express (@IndianExpress) January 16, 2024

“People were really angry and obviously they were asking questions from the crew,” Belskaia said on her Instagram story. “Then the pilot said we were asking too many questions…”

Belskaia said she didn’t support Kataria’s actions, but pointed out that passengers were fed up after waiting for hours.

In another video where Kataria is seen being deboarded, he apologises for his actions, while the person recording the video refuses to accept his apology.

In a statement, IndiGo said the case is being referred to an independent internal committee for appropriate action. “On January 14, 2024, during the announcement of a flight delay by the first officer of flight 6E2175, a passenger assaulted the first officer. As per protocol, the passenger was declared unruly and handed over to the local law enforcement agencies for further action,” the airline said.

“The incident is being referred to the independent internal committee for appropriate action and inclusion of the passenger on the ‘no-fly list’ as laid down in regulatory guidelines,” it added.

Amid the fog-related disruptions at IGI Airport, the central government has asked the airport to expedite the return to service of a runway capable of low-visibility flight operations, Scindia said.

Urging passengers to cooperate with carriers in “this difficult period”, he cautioned that unruly behaviour will be “dealt with strongly”.