Air India Fell Short Of Addressing The Urinating Case, Says Tata Sons Chairman

Anguished over the incident of a passenger urinating on another on an Air India flight, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said on Sunday that the airline’s response should have been “swifter” and it could have handled the incident better.

Chandrasekaran was referring to the incident that occured on Nov. 26 on a New York-Delhi flight. A 70-year-old woman, travelling business class, complained that a drunk man urinated on her and asked how he was allowed to leave without any action by the crew.

The drunk flyer, later identified as Shankar Mishra, was banned from flying for 30 days, triggering outrage on social media for what was perceived to be an inadequate response by the airline. Weeks later, the Delhi Police registered a first information report, and the 34-year-old Mishra was tracked down and arrested in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, he was also fired by his employer, the US-based financial services company, Wells Fargo. A Delhi court has sent him to 14-day judicial custody.

Currently, further investigations are underway.

“The incident has been a matter of personal anguish to me and my colleagues at Air India,” said Chandrasekaran in a statement on Sunday, days after the aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, pulled up the Tata Group-owned full-service carrier.

“We fell short of addressing this situation the way it should have been.”

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

On Jan. 7, the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Campbell Wilson, said that four cabin crew members and one pilot had been issued show-cause notices and de-rostered pending investigations.

“Air India is deeply concerned about the in-flight instances where customers have suffered due to the condemnable acts of their co-passengers on our aircraft,” he said.