IndiGo pilot suspended for 3 months for threatening senior citizen

New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday suspended an IndiGo captain for three months for "intimidating and threatening" a wheelchair-bound senior citizen in a Chennai-Bengaluru flight on January 13, an official said.

During investigation, it was found that the pilot-in-command "insisted" on an apology letter from the passengers — the senior citizen and her daughter — which further delayed the matter, detaining them for approximately 75 minutes after the deboarding began at the Bengaluru airport.

"It was established that the pilot-in-command's attitude towards the wheelchair-bound senior citizen passenger was intimidating, threatening and lacked compassion. The DGCA has suspended his license for a period of three months," the official added.

Independent journalist Supriya Unni Nair, who had asked for a wheelchair for her 75-year-old mother after landing in Bengaluru on January 13 night, had narrated the incident in multiple tweets.

According to Nair's tweets, the cabin crew stated that they do not have access to wheelchair assistance.

Seeing the commotion on this issue, the pilot-in-command came in between, misbehaving and threatening Nair and her mother with jail, Nair had said.