Urination Row: Air India de-rosters pilot, 4 cabin crew members; admits lapses

Mumbai: Even as a Delhi court sent the accused in the Air India urination row to judicial custody, the CEO of the airline admitted that the incident could have been handled in a better manner.

Air India has issued show cause notices to four of its cabin crew and one pilot and de-rostered them pending investigations.

Facing backlash for the handling of the incident, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson said in a statement on Saturday that the airline could have handled the issue better and promised a robust reporting system of unruly behaviour and a system of reporting such incidents.

"Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft. We regret and are pained about these experiences," he said.

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Air India chief executive officer (CEO) Campbell Wilson on Friday asked the airline staff to report any instances of "any improper behaviour on board to authorities at the earliest even if the matter appears to be resolved".

In a letter to Air India employees, the CEO stated that timely action is necessary against those who don't follow the flight rules.

Campbell said, "This week has, 'regrettably', been dominated by media headlines of which you are no doubt familiar. The repulsion felt by the affected passenger is totally understandable and we share her distress."

He reiterated the importance of reporting untoward incidents onboard flights to authorities, even if the crew believes it has been resolved.

"Whilst the story is more complicated than has been reported, there are clearly some lessons we can and must learn. Most importantly is that, if an incident on our aircraft involves improper behaviour of such magnitude, we must report it to authorities at the earliest opportunity, even if we genuinely believe that the matter has been settled between the parties involved. The same applies in the case of passengers deemed to meet the threshold of 'Unruly'," the letter reads.

"We must also be clear on the standard of behaviour that is expected on our aircraft and take firm, decisive and timely action against those who do not comply," he said.

"Though there are numerous cases in which we have done exactly this, I have asked that these, and other relevant aspects of the Safety and Emergency Procedures Manual, be immediately reiterated by operating departments and reinforced in recurrent training, and I ask each of you to reflect on what you would do if faced with such situations. As in any other area, knowledge and preparation underpin confidence and outcome," the CEO added.

On Friday night Delhi Police arrested Shankar Mishra, the Mumbai resident, who had allegedly urinated on a co-passenger onboard the November 26 Air India flight between New York and Delhi.

Mishra who allegedly in an inebriated condition, urinated on his co-passenger was arrested from Bengaluru and brought to Delhi, police said.

Police had issued a look out notice for the flyer after he had gone incommunicado and switched off his mobile phone, after the incident received wide media coverage.

"After registering an FIR in the matter, we started tracking his location and found that he was in Bengaluru. However when we tried to contact him we found that the man had switched off his phone."

The FIR was registered on January 4 based on a complaint given by the woman co-passenger to Air India.

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