Letters: DGCA is right

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) might be guilty of several transgressions, but it certainly does not lack common sense, although the editorial, "DGCA's latest misstep" (February 23) seems to imply it does. The DGCA was right to suspend the cabin crew of an airline for allowing Sonu Nigam to sing a couple of songs midflight on the aircraft's public address system.

I am not aware of any airline elsewhere in the world or their regulators that allow passengers to be in the aisle except when they need to use the toilets or let them use the flight's public address system. The restrictions are in place for good reasons: blocking the aisles hinders movement while unauthorised use of the public address system blocks communication between passengers and the flight crew. What if a passenger had to summon the crew to attend to an emergency or had to use the toilet when Nigam was singing his songs on the public address system? Even if many on the flight were Nigam's fans, what of the unfortunate few, who might not have wanted anything more than to be left in peace? Should the public address system be used by political or religious personages to air their messages, simply because the flight has many flyers who support their views?

Read more from our special coverage on "DGCA"

• Letters: Not a threat to security
• DGCA likely to come out with fresh guidelines on block hours
• No mid-air bash: DGCA prohibits singing, dancing in the aisle

The argument that whatever is inherently safe should be allowed as a marketing opportunity before a captive, high-earning audience is surely carrying laissez-faire beyond all reasonable limits.

Shreekant Sambrani, Baroda

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