For governor’s missed flight, AirAsia suspends staffer | India News

BENGALURU: Three days after an AirAsia India’s Hyderabad-bound flight took off before Karnataka governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot could board it at Bengaluru, the airline’s station manager at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) has been suspended for a month.

Besides manager Zico Soares, two more airline staffers are likely to be suspended over Thursday’s “lapse” before a scheduled meeting of AirAsia officials in the governor’s office on Monday, KIA sources said.
The sources confirmed that Zico Soares had been suspended since Saturday on charges of not waiting for the VIP and giving the AirAsia (now AIX Connect) plane the go-ahead to fly with regular passengers.

Raj Bhavan maintains that the governor had arrived on time but missed the flight because of the “lapses” on the part of the airline’s ground staff. Gehlot took another flight 50 minutes later to Hyderabad.
The sources said Gehlot was to board I5972 at 2.05pm.
“The governor’s arrival was awaited as two of his staff had already reached with his bags. But he reached the VIP gate only at 2.07pm and was heading in his official car on the tarmac towards the flight.
“By then, the flight, packed with passengers and scheduled to take off at 2.05pm, had already pushed back after the doors were closed and the the ladders removed,” said a senior official.
In Monday’s meeting , senior airline officials will explain to Gehlot or his team the situation that led to him missing the flight as well as the action in the form of the suspension, the sources said.
An AIX Connect spokesperson had in a statement earlier “regretted” the episode and cited an ongoing probe. Gehlot’s office had told TOI that a complaint had been lodged with the civil aviation ministry.