On Aircraft Diversions, VIPs and One Indefatigable Man..

This is the story of one indefatigable man and his diligent quest for truth...

How many of you remember this “news” from almost two years ago? Praful Patel’s daughter pulled out scheduled AI flight for IPL (emphasis added)?

A Delhi to Coimbatore Air India flight, IC 7603, scheduled to leave at 5.20am on April 20, was aborted less than 12 hours before its departure to allow the aircraft to be deployed as a chartered flight for ferrying civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s daughter, Poorna Patel, and some IPL players from Chandigarh to Chennai.

“…Poorna Patel called the airline on Monday evening and asked for an aircraft to do a chartered flight to Chennai from Chandigarh. So the aircraft was pulled out of the fleet. IPL paid for the chartered flight but the violation here was getting an aircraft scheduled for a passenger flight pulled out at the last moment for a chartered flight,” said an official.

A civil aviation ministry spokesperson said the ministry had nothing to do with the charter. Praful Patel was not available for comment. An AI spokesperson confirmed the aircraft was given for a chartered flight but did not divulge details about the client.

Like most readers, I read the news-item, felt mildly angry and frustrated – and promptly forgot all about it..After all, this was but a minor transgression by a powerful politician’s family…

But one man did not. He did not forget..and he did not let it pass. He filed an RTI to find out more information, to confirm whether the fact of “diversion” was true, to find out whether such a “diversion” was done in following proper procedures and norms. That man is Sh Subhash Chandra Agrawal. If that name rings a bell, I would not be surprised…

What happened later (in the above incidence) and another case that came to my attention a few days back, reminded me why Sh Agrawal is held in such high regard..The two cases are a lesson in diligence, perseverance and the “power of insignificant”. Sh Agrawal’s RTI application re. the “diversion” would have met the usual fate of delayed response and bland replies – but for his dogged perseverance. There were the usual delays, appeals and counter-appeals but Alliance Air would not reveal the details…They were finally forced to make it public on the orders of Chief Information Commissioner. That is how Sh Agrawal managed to get details of this unusual diversion and what exactly happened between 19th-20th April. The response he received threw up some interesting facts (let me know if you would like a copy of the reply he got):

• The request for a Charter aircraft was received after 6pm on 19th April via email (and telephone)
• Alliance Air agreed to the diversion and promised to get ready the aircraft in a bare two hours(!)
• Payment for such a flight needs to be made in advance of the  flight but it was made on 20th April (the next day); It is not clear whether the agreement between Indian Cements (the company chartering the flight) and Alliance Air was also made on the same day – or before 20th April.

Unfortunately neither the DGCA nor the government (or the opposition parties) are keen to pursue this matter further. Sh Agrawal however, was not done with Air India yet. Barely a week after the news-report of the “diversion”, came another report of apparent misuse of power & influence by Sh Patel’s family. Reports surfaced that Air India had deployed a larger aircraft to “accommodate” Sh Patel’s family members travelling to Maldives in late April (emphasis added):

..Air India may be undergoing an austerity drive and financial restructuring after the Rs 7,200 crore loss it posted last year after its merger with Indian Airlines, but those rules apparently do not apply to civil aviation minister Praful Patel’s family.

On April 25, a Sunday, Air India deployed a larger aircraft than the scheduled one just to ensure that Patel’s daughter Avni, her husband Prashant and her in-laws could all fly business class to Male, the capital of Maldives.

This was allegedly done under pressure from the civil aviation ministry, a top Air India official told Mail Today on condition of anonymity …For the regular Bangalore-Male flight IC-965, Air India plies an Airbus A-319, which has eight business class seats and 114 economy class seats. According to an Air India official, the load factor on this sector is not high, so it is commercially viable to fly this relatively small aircraft for an international route.  However, the Deshpande party consisted of seven members – Congress leader R. V. Deshpande, Radha Deshpande, Prasad Deshpande, Meghna Deshpande and Master Dhruv, in addition to Avni and her husband Prashant Deshpande. Since seven of the eight seats on that flight were already booked, the Deshpandes could not have been all accommodated in the business class.

Therefore, a larger aircraft – an Airbus A-320 with 20 business and 125 economy class seats – was deployed for the April 25 Bangalore-Male flight so that the VIP family need not have had to change their travel plans.
The change in the aircraft resulted in 53 seats (six in business class and 47 in economy) going empty on the Bangalore- Male sector. The aircraft returned to Bangalore with 57 seats vacant.  The same story was repeated for the April 28 return Male- Bangalore flight IC- 966 when the Deshpandes were booked again into an A-320. The aircraft took off for Male with 20 seats vacant and for the return journey – with the Deshpandes on board – 60 seats were empty (nine in business class and 51 in economy).

As before, Sh Agrawal promptly filed an RTI to find out more…After the usual stone-walling and denial of information on grounds of commercial sensitivity, Air India was finally forced into compliance by the CIC. Very reluctantly, it confirmed that family members of Sh Patel had indeed flown on those flights..Email records obtained by Sh Agrawal revealed that this change was done due to “heavy demand” on the flights (in case you would like to see the reply by Air India, pl leave a comment below with your email id).

The matter may be over for Air India..but Sh Agrawal continues with his tireless efforts to bring more such instances to light…His persistence and diligence is truly an inspiration to all of us…The best way to salute and acknowledge his efforts would be to file an RTI yourself…Are you ready?

Somewhat Related: Canadian accused of bribing cabinet minister in India is a test case for Canada’s foreign anti-corruption law

Also read:  “Daylight Rape of Public Interest” and The Curious Case of Vijay Mallya and his Bailout