Air India said on Tuesday it changed its policy of distributing in-flight alcohol after the scandal dubbed “Pipigate” that cost it at least $49,000 in fines and a bad image.
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The incident dates back to November 26, when a drunk senior US bank executive was accused of urinating on a 72-year-old woman who was sitting in business class on a flight from New York to New Delhi.
The airline, dubbed “Pipigate” by local media, has come under fire for allowing banker, an Indian citizen Shankar Mishra, to disembark normally after the plane has landed and for overturning the complaint of the Indian citizen processed the passenger.
“We have since reviewed our inflight alcohol distribution policy, taking inspiration from the practices of other airlines and the rules of the American Restaurant Association,” Air India said in a statement.
Staff are now being trained to spot suspicious behavior, the airline, which was privatized last year, added.
Air India also defended itself in the statement by saying that “the alleged perpetrator never posed a risk to the safety of the flight”. However, the airline acknowledged that it failed to report the incident, as required by the Indian Aviation Authority.
India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) fined Air India three million rupees ($49,000) last week and the inflight services manager was fined an additional 300,000 rupees (about $5,000).
The pilot’s license for the flight was also suspended for three months because he “did not fulfill his duties” and did not ensure safety and order in his plane.
The airline has since called the fine “excessive” and pledged to help its employees appeal.
The DGCA on Tuesday fined the airline an additional one million rupees for failing to report two further incidents of unruly behavior by passengers on a flight from Paris to New Delhi on December 6.
An allegedly intoxicated passenger was found smoking in the toilet while another relieved himself on another passenger’s vacant seat and blanket, the regulator said.