Air India revokes flight ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad with immediate effect
NEW DELHI: Air India today lifted the flying ban on Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who hogged the limelight last month for slapping an Air India staffer after a tiff over seating arrangements.
The ban was revoked after a regret letter to the civil aviation minister from Gaikwad yesterday, confirmed Air India sources.
Earlier today, the Aviation Ministry had written to Air India to revoke ban on the errant MP.
Gaikwad, who had beaten up an Air India staffer with chappals, is the first passenger in India's aviation history to be banned by airlines from flying.
Gaikwad had earlier written a 'regret letter' to the aviation ministry. In the letter, he gave an undertaking that such a mistake would not happen again. He did this at a meeting called by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Gaikwad assaulted R Sukumar, a ground staff of the airline, after he had to fly in a Pune-Delhi plane in economy class despite having a business class ticket. Later it turned out that it was an all-economy aircraft and there was no way he could have gotten a business class seat.
Following a ban by Air India, post the incident, all Indian airlines banned him. Later, Gaikwad booked seven air tickets with different airlines but all of them got cancelled. 5 bookings were cancelled by Air India while one booking each was cancelled by IndiGo and SpiceJet. He had made his last ticket-booking effort today.
After the ban on Gaikwad, the government had also started discussions on creating a 'no fly list' to tame unruly fliers.
Yesterday, Modi government got a taste of Shiv Sena’s characteristic bullying tactics in Lok Sabha on Thursday, when Shiv Sena Anant Geete gave a full-throated threat: "No flight will take off from Mumbai from tomorrow."
Sena MPs gave a brazen display of their power play in the House, with Opposition parties reduced to mere spectators. They forced three quick adjournments and aggressively charged at and surrounded civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who had initially rejected their demand.
The ban was revoked after a regret letter to the civil aviation minister from Gaikwad yesterday, confirmed Air India sources.
Earlier today, the Aviation Ministry had written to Air India to revoke ban on the errant MP.
Gaikwad, who had beaten up an Air India staffer with chappals, is the first passenger in India's aviation history to be banned by airlines from flying.
Gaikwad had earlier written a 'regret letter' to the aviation ministry. In the letter, he gave an undertaking that such a mistake would not happen again. He did this at a meeting called by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Gaikwad assaulted R Sukumar, a ground staff of the airline, after he had to fly in a Pune-Delhi plane in economy class despite having a business class ticket. Later it turned out that it was an all-economy aircraft and there was no way he could have gotten a business class seat.
Following a ban by Air India, post the incident, all Indian airlines banned him. Later, Gaikwad booked seven air tickets with different airlines but all of them got cancelled. 5 bookings were cancelled by Air India while one booking each was cancelled by IndiGo and SpiceJet. He had made his last ticket-booking effort today.
After the ban on Gaikwad, the government had also started discussions on creating a 'no fly list' to tame unruly fliers.
Yesterday, Modi government got a taste of Shiv Sena’s characteristic bullying tactics in Lok Sabha on Thursday, when Shiv Sena Anant Geete gave a full-throated threat: "No flight will take off from Mumbai from tomorrow."
Sena MPs gave a brazen display of their power play in the House, with Opposition parties reduced to mere spectators. They forced three quick adjournments and aggressively charged at and surrounded civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who had initially rejected their demand.
