Vistara Airlines’ last flight takes off from Odisha for Delhi
The last flight of Vistara Airlines from Odisha took off for Delhi on Monday night. This marked the end of the airline's operations from the state ahead of its merger with Air India.
A day after TDP MP from Anantapur JC Diwakar Reddy created ruckus and pushed an airline staffer after he was denied boarding by IndiGo for being late, GoAir, Vistara and AirAsia India, Jet Lite joined other airlines in imposing flying ban on Reddy.
State-run Air India, as well as budget carrier SpiceJet and full-service Jet Airways soon, followed suit by barring him from their flights.
According to reports, Diwakar on Thursday reached Vishakapatnam airport late to catch an Indigo flight to Hyderabad and the Boarding Pass counter was closed.
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Diwakar insisted on getting the boarding pass since he is an MP and after the staff refused him, he destroyed the Boarding Pass printing machine and created ruckus.
While IndiGo had finally accommodated the TDP leader, later it decided to ban him from taking its flights.
Civil Aviation Minister Gajapathi Raju reacted to the incident and said: “I will get the entire incident at Vizag Airport enquired into to find out the exact details and ensure that lawful outcomes follow.”
This is not the first time that Diwakar is in news for the wrong reasons. In the past, the Anantapur MP behaved in an objectionable manner at Gannavaram Airport as well and had created a fracas in October 2016 at Vijayawada Airport.
Earlier this year, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was temporarily banned by airlines from flying after he assaulted an Air India staffer, triggering a major controversy.
Following the Gaikwad incident, the Centre had released its draft rules for a national no-fly list for unruly passengers and proposed a ban on flying from three months up to an indefinite period.
(With inputs from agencies)
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