Passenger tweets about jail threat by IndiGo pilot

Aviation minister says he is 'off-rostered'

A woman passenger has claimed that she was threatened by an IndiGo pilot with jail after she asked for a wheelchair for her mother in the plane at Bengaluru airport, with Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri saying the airline has "off-rostered" the pilot.

Supriya Unni Nair, who had asked for a wheelchair for her 75-year-old mother, after landing in Bengaluru on Monday night, alleged in multiple tweets that the pilot had misbehaved and threatened her with jail.

Puri said on Twitter, "I requested my office to contact IndiGo as soon as I saw the tweet by Ms Supriya Unni Nair about the pilot's behaviour with her & her 75 year old mother in need of wheelchair assistance."

"The airline has informed Ministry of Civil Aviation that the pilot has been offrostered pending full enquiry," he added.

Reacting to the matter, IndiGo told PTI that the issue is under internal review and necessary action will be taken.

Narrating the incident on Twitter, Nair said when the Chennai-Bengaluru flight landed at the airport at 9.15 pm on Monday, she asked the flight crew to provide a wheelchair for her mother, as it was requested at the time of booking the ticket. The cabin crew, according to Nair, said that they do not have access to the wheelchair.

Nair said she showed the ticket where it was printed that she has availed wheelchair services and at that moment, one of the pilots named "Jayakrishna" starting yelling at her and her mother for annoying him and the plane's crew.

Nair, who is an independent journalist, claimed that when the wheelchair was then brought to take her mother at the Bengaluru airport, "Jayakrishna" prevented the 75-year-old to be taken from the plane.