Venugopal, 4 other MPs accuse Air India of ‘breach of privilege’, demand investigation

The diversion of Air India’s Thiruvananthapuram–Delhi flight AI 2455 on 10 August to Chennai reached the Lok Sabha today, with five MPs — including Congress' K.C. Venugopal — submitting a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on 12 August, Tuesday, to demand action against the national airline for alleged "breach of privilege". All five MPs had been traveling on that same flight.

Venugopal and his fellow Congress MPs Suresh, Adoor Prakash and Robert Bruce as well as the CPI(M)'s Radhakrishnan also wrote to civil aviation minister Rammohan Naidu, demanding an immediate probe into the incident.

In the letter to Birla, the five MPs said they wanted to draw his attention to the matter of "serious breach of privilege" by Air India arising out of the incident on flight number AI 2455 (Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi) on 10 August.

"On the said date, we were travelling along with hundreds of other passengers. The flight scheduled for 7:15 PM eventually departed at around 8:30 PM citing the late arrival of the incoming aircraft. From the outset, the journey was marked by prolonged turbulence. Passengers were instructed to remain strapped in, and even basic inflight services such as dinner were withheld," the MPs wrote.

Mid-flight, the MPs allege, the pilot announced a serious technical snag — weather radar failure — and said the plane would be diverted to Chennai.

This, they continued, "raised immediate concern since other airports such as Bengaluru and Coimbatore were closer to our location at the time".

"The decision to proceed to a farther airport, while allegedly 'flying blind', remains unexplained," they said.

"Eventually," the letter continues, "during the first landing attempt, the aircraft had to execute a sudden go-around manoeuvre from a dangerously low altitude, reportedly due to 'something' — possibly another aircraft — on the runway, as per the pilot's announcement. Only on the second attempt did we land safely. We were finally boarded and flown to Delhi on another aircraft past midnight."

"Immediately after the incident, we placed the matter in the public domain through our social media accounts, highlighting the serious safety and procedural lapses witnessed first-hand. Instead of addressing these legitimate concerns, Air India has issued public statements portraying our account as false and misleading, thereby attempting to discredit elected Members of Parliament who were fulfilling their responsibility of raising issues of public safety," the MPs alleged.

"This attempt to question our credibility and publicly misrepresent our statements amounts to a direct breach of privilege, as it seeks to intimidate and deter Members from discharging their constitutional duty to raise matters affecting citizens' safety and welfare," the letter continues, adding, "In the wake of the recent tragic air accident in Ahmedabad and several reported mid-air technical glitches across the country, flight safety is a matter of deep public concern."

In the letter to aviation minister Naidu, meanwhile, the ministers wrote, "We wish to place on record our appreciation for the skill and quick judgement of the Captain, whose decisive action in aborting the landing likely averted a potential disaster. However, the manner in which the incident was subsequently handled by Air India raises equally serious concerns."

"Instead of acknowledging the sequence of events and providing clarification, the airline has issued public statements portraying our first-hand account as false and misleading," the second letter continues. "This denial, coupled with the absence of transparent communication about the technical fault, the diversion decision, the prolonged circling, and the aborted landing, not only undermines public trust but also creates the impression that passenger safety concerns are being downplayed or concealed."

"At a time when the nation is still reeling from the recent tragic air accident in Ahmedabad... such opacity from Air India is unacceptable. We therefore urge your Ministry to order a comprehensive and time-bound investigation into the incident, covering both technical and procedural aspects, and to ensure that the findings are made public in full. We also request that clear accountability be fixed, operational protocols for emergency diversions and runway safety be strengthened, and passengers be given truthful and timely communication in such situations," the letter to Naidu urged.

"We trust that this matter will be treated with the seriousness it deserves, both for the sake of passenger safety and for restoring public confidence," the MPs concluded.

On 11 August, Monday, Air India had said the crew of the Thiruvananthapuram–Delhi flight had followed protocols and had to abort the first landing attempt due to the presence of suspected "foreign debris" on the runway.

Meanwhile, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) had said that the Air India flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi was safely landed at Chennai on Sunday evening due to a suspected malfunction in the aircraft's weather radar.