AI suspends pilot, ten cabin crew members for indiscipline

Taking its crew to task for lack of discipline, Air India today suspended a pilot and ten cabin crew members for delaying some recent flights, including an international service, by not reporting for duty on time.

The suspensions were carried out after repeated complaints of various nature, including careless handling of passengers or flight delays caused by delayed arrival of crew members, Air India officials said.

The suspension orders were issued this afternoon after carrying out inquiries into each case of indiscipline, they told PTI here.

The national carrier's Newark-Mumbai flight AI-144 had a delayed departure of over two hours on September 14 as the pilot failed to arrive at the airport on time, the officials, requesting anonymity, said.

Without disclosing the total number of flights or passengers affected by such behaviour of the crew members, the officials said there were complaints regarding improper behaviour of some crew members or improper handling of passenger complaints.

Some crew members were also found to be perpetually late while reporting for duty, thus delaying the flights, the officials said, adding disciplinary action was being taken to check any inconvenience to passengers and instill a sense of responsibility amongst the crew.