Headlines India
Latest Online India News Update Volume-VIII India News
Home » Business News » Aviation
Friday, April 23, 2010 (12:52:43)
Tags : business, aviation

Air India justifies flight diversion for IPL

 Email Story  Write to the editor  Print Story
New Delhi, April 23: Air India today said a Delhi-Coimbatore flight was chartered to ferry Indian Premier League (IPL) players and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel's daughter Poorna for commercial reasons.

"It was absolutely a commercial decision. Chartered flights make a lot of money for the airline. We keep combining flights according to our operational demand. The IPL anyway has been our customer ever since it began," Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director of the airline, said in a statement.

He was reacting to a media report that said the minister's daughter, who works for IPL, had the Delhi-Coimbatore Air India flight IC 7603 on April 20 aborted less than 12 hours before departure to allow the aircraft to be deployed to ferry her and some IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai.

But a directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) official said that airlines could provide chartered service only if a particular aircraft was not being used for a scheduled service.

"Diverting a scheduled a passenger flight for charter operation is not permitted," the official said. (IANS)
Post your comment
Name
Email
Comment
Reader Comments