Air India erred in addressing situation: Tata Sons chairman

Terming it a matter of “personal anguish,” Chandrasekaran, in a statement issued on Sunday, said: “Air India’s response should have been much swifter. We fell short of addressing this situation the way it should have been.”

The statement follows public outrage over the incident whereby a passenger urinated on a co-passenger, a woman in her 70s, on a 26 November New York-Delhi flight of Air India. The passenger, identified as Shankar Mishra, a senior executive at US financial services firm Wells Fargo, has since been terminated by his employer. Delhi Police also arrested Mishra from Bengaluru on Saturday, and he has been sent to 14-day judicial custody.

“The Tata Group and Air India stand by the safety and well-being of our passengers and crew with full conviction. We will review and repair every process to prevent or address any incidents of such unruly nature,” Chandrasekaran further said in the statement.

The full-service carrier received the complaint on 17 November and commenced engaging in correspondence with the affected passenger’s family on 30 November, Air India chief executive and managing director Campbell Wilson said on Saturday. The airline lodged a police report a month after the incident on 28 December at the request of the victim’s family.

An internal committee at Air India assessed the incident on 20 December and concluded that a 30-day interim travel ban was sufficient for the incident.

Wilson said the airline would review its policy on the service of alcohol in the flight and will commence a comprehensive education programme to strengthen crew awareness of and compliance with policies on the handling of unruly passengers and incidents and to better equip crew to emphatically assist those affected.

“Air India acknowledges that it could have handled these matters better, both in the air and on the ground and is committed to taking action,” Wilson said.