New Delhi, Feb. 16: Low-cost airline IndiGo has come under official glare for promoting through its public address system a film that salutes a flight attendant who died while saving passengers on a hijacked plane 30 years ago.
Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) claimed that several travellers had approached the agency with complaints against IndiGo for promoting the film Neerja on its flights.
Since February 10, the airline has made announcements about the film and its plot that pay tribute to Neerja Bhanot, a 22-year-old flight attendant who was killed while saving passengers on a Pam Am flight hijacked in Karachi in 1986. Posthumously, Bhanot had become the youngest recipient of India's highest peacetime military award for bravery, the Ashok Chakra.
"We have received complaints that the airline has been using its public address system for advertising the film while it is meant only to convey in-flight information and safety instructions by crew members," a DGCA official said.
"We are currently looking into the complaints and whether the airline has violated the norms," another official said.
Sources in the DGCA said the rationale behind keeping the public address systems in aircraft only for passenger service information and safety instruction is to ensure that alerts and emergency messages can be passed on without delay.
In a written reply to a email query sent by this newspaper, the airline however said that on-board promotions and announcements have been in practice in the industry and are not new.
"IndiGo is an official airline partner for the forthcoming film Neerja," said an airline spokesperson. "Safety of our passengers at no time was compromised. As an airline, we always comply with the DGCA guidelines."
The film, featuring Sonam Kapoor and Shabana Azmi in lead roles and directed by Ram Madhvani, is releasing on February 19.
The air carrier had entered into an agreement with the production company, Fox Star Studios, to brand and market the film on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, insiders said.
Jet Airways was issued a show cause notice by the DGCA earlier this month after singer Sonu Nigam was allowed to belt out Bollywood numbers using the in-flight announcement system in a chartered flight between Jodhpur and Mumbai on January 4 following demands from fellow passengers.
The matter had come to light a month later when a video went viral on social media, forcing the air carrier to suspend five crew members. The DGCA probe is still underway.
Under a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on training and licensing of cabin crew, issued by DGCA in 2010, "the PA (public address) system and interphone system are tools for relaying safety information".
"IndiGo's intention might be to try and inspire its own attendants - but the fact remains that the system is being used for a commercial purpose which is against the norm," said the complainant who did not wish to be identified.Former DGCA Kanu Gohain said that if an airline was found using its public address system for any purpose other than what is specified in the manual for cabin crew members, it would amount to a "gross violation".
"The rule is very simple in this case. Only crew members should use the address system for specified purposes and in no case should any commercial product be advertised in such a manner," he told this newspaper. "Singers holding concerts in air and films being advertised in flights through public service system by no means are small issues, and these cases should be dealt with seriously."
An official in the civil aviation ministry recalled that as part of Holi celebrations in 2014, the cabin crew of SpiceJet had broken into a dance sequence mid-air to the tune of Balam Pichkari -- a song from the Ranveer Kapoor-Deepika Padukone starrer Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. It had led to the suspension of two pilots.
