Air India official slapped, abused by passenger while flying from Sydney to New Delhi

A senior Air India official was allegedly slapped and abused by a co-passenger while on a flight from Sydney to New Delhi on July 9. The incident took place when the official was trying to correct the passenger about his “loud voice”.

The official was downgraded from business class to economy due to a seat malfunctioning. Following this, he had an argument with the co-passenger who then twisted the official’s head and abused him for correcting him.

The aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation was informed about the incident while an Air India spokesperson in an official statement confirmed the incident saying, “A passenger on board AI301 operating Sydney-Delhi on July 9 behaved in an unacceptable manner during the flight, despite verbal and written warnings, causing distress to other passengers, which included one of our employees”. 

"Upon the flight's safe landing at Delhi, the passenger was handed over to the security agency, and the passenger later apologised in writing. The DGCA was duly informed of the incident. Air India will take a firm stand against misbehavior. We will pursue this to the full extent of the law," it added.

The case is one of the many recent ones highlighting frequent problematic passenger behavior on flights.

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