The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of Parliament (MP) Tejasvi Surya has been identified as the passenger who accidentally opened the emergency door of a flight in Chennai on December 10 last year as per a reply by the Civil Aviation Ministry in Lok Sabha.
“As per the report submitted by M/s Interglobe Aviation Limited, the name of the passenger alleged in the incident is Tejasvi Surya who had boarded flight 6E-7339 (Chennai to Tiruchirappalli) at Chennai Airport on December 10, 2022. The emergency door opened accidentally as clarified by Interglobe Aviation Limited,” said the reply by minister of state (MoS) for civil aviation, Gen (Retd) V.K. Singh in response to Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Lala Roy, on Thursday.
The reply further noted that the airline clarified that this was not a deliberate action and the passenger (Surya) was not in violation of any rule.
On the flight 6E 7339 from Chennai to Tiruchirapalli on Dec 10, 2022, Surya accidentally opened the emergency exit during the boarding process. As per IndiGo, the airline operator, “The passenger immediately apologised for the action. As per SOPs, the incident was logged and the aircraft underwent mandatory engineering checks, which led to a delay in the flight’s departure.”
The aircraft was reportedly taxiing for take-off when the emergency exit door opened, which led to the passengers being de-boarded as per protocol. The aircraft took off only after a thorough inspection, leaving the Chennai airport at 12.27pm, and landed at Tiruchirapalli at 1.23pm
Further clarifying on why the alleged opening of the emergency exit by Surya did not fall under a ‘reportable occurrence’, the minister said, “As per Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section 5 Series C Part I regarding “Notification of incidents and investigation thereof” issued by DGCA, the occurrence did not come under the category of “reportable occurrence’’. The matter was investigated by the airline concerned. The occurrence took place while the aircraft was on ground and the flight departed only after completing all the safety checks/ protocols.”
Earlier on Monday, the ministry, in another reply in Parliament, said the Chennai incident was the only such incident reported in last five years.
