The airline's woman staffer posted at the boarding gate and the man stationed on the ramp that afternoon have been suspended over 'dereliction of duty'.
As per a report by The Times of India, AirAsia India (now AIX Connect) has suspended two ground staffers on charges of 'failure to wait for the Karnataka governor' at Bengaluru airport. The incident occurred on July 27, when Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot missed his scheduled flight from Bengaluru to Hyderabad. The airline's woman staffer posted at the boarding gate and the man stationed on the ramp that afternoon have been suspended for 30 days over 'dereliction of duty', according to sources.
On that day, Governor Gehlot was supposed to board AirAsia flight I5 972, scheduled to take off at 2.05 pm. However, over 100 passengers had already boarded the flight, which departed on time without much delay. Unfortunately, Gehlot reached the boarding gate at 2.07 pm, only to find that the flight had left without him.
Following the incident, the governor's team lodged a complaint with the airline and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, blaming AirAsia's ground staff for the lapse that led to Gehlot missing his flight. Raj Bhavan maintained that Gehlot had arrived on time, and the situation was caused by a miscommunication by the airline crew.
In response to the incident, AirAsia's Bengaluru airport station manager, Zico Soares, was previously placed under 30 days' suspension for not waiting for the VIP. During a meeting with Governor Gehlot on Monday, senior AirAsia officials apologized for the incident and informed him of Soares' suspension. They also assured the governor that further action would be taken against more staff who were on duty that day.
Subsequently, AirAsia India de-rostered the male and female ground staffers from their daily duties at Bengaluru Airport. Despite the suspension of these staff members, netizens had earlier appreciated the airline crew for prioritizing regular passengers' interests during the situation.
As of now, AirAsia India has not provided any official comments on the matter.
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