Pilot Accuses AirAsia of not Following Safety Rules
Gaurav Taneja, a fitness blogger and pilot, has accused Air Asia of flouting safety guidelines. Watch our latest video to learn more.
Gaurav Taneja is a former IIT-Kharagpur graduate and a former IndiGo captain. He joined AirAsia India in May 2019 as one of its captains (pilots) on its Airbus A320 fleet. He is also a fitness blogger and a digital influencer with over 200,000 twitter followers. On 15th June 2020, in his tweets, Gaurav Taneja said that AirAsia broke several safety rules which put the lives of the passengers who board the company's aircraft in danger. He posted a video message on Twitter. He said, "On 22nd – 23rd March, I delayed my flight for about 40 minutes as safety-related guidelines were not being followed by the airline. I gave feedback that certain regulations were not being followed up by the airline. But, the airline took no action. There were several errors. I decided not to fly on 24th March as the airline was still not following some safety measures that he repeatedly informed them.”
On 4th May Taneja was given a show-cause notice which said that the company suffered losses because of his actions. He has accused AirAsia India management of asking him to work during his off-day on 9th June as he had taken a sick leave from 7th June. When I started protesting this, the chief of flight safety said in an email that I report sick and fatigue frequently. The management also suggested undergoing lifestyle counselling and medical check. Taneja also said that AirAsia India was not following some of DGCA compulsory safety-related guidelines for the COVID-19 pandemic. However, he did not give more details.
According to Taneja, he has been suspended as the company was unhappy with him for pointing out safety errors. He did not give details of some of the accusations but the tweets started a #BoycottAirAsiaIndia trend on Twitter with about 26,000 tweets on 15th May afternoon. DGCA in a statement said, "DGCA has taken note of the concerns against an Airline and DGCA has already started an investigation into the issues. Action will be taken depending on the report of the investigation.”
