Air India flight delayed due to fight between cabin crew members

A Thiruvananthapuram-bound Air India flight from here carrying 158 passengers including some Members of Parliament and bureaucrats onboard was delayed by two hours after a fight broke out between two cabin crew members inside the cabin.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Air India has suspended the crew members, pending enquiry, the airline said.

The incident took place this evening when Air India flight was readying for Kochi for departure. The flight was, however, bound for Thiruvananthapuram.

“We have suspended the two cabin crew members for delaying the flight. We will not tolerate any indiscipline at the airline,” Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said here tonight.

The airline deeply regrets the inconvenience caused to its passengers, he added.

According to sources, initially it was an argument over some personal issue between a junior cabin crew and the second senior cabin crew, which later turned into a full scale scuffle.

“However, it turned into heated exchange of words, forcing the commander to intervene. But when they refused to relent, the operations in charge decided to offload both of them and deploy new crew in their place, “sources said.

Air India, however, said that there was minor altercation between two cabin crew.

The flight later took off at around 8 pm.