Mumbai, Jul 10 (PTI) Air India has derostered nine employees, including two pilots, for taking on board three passengers in excess of the aircraft capacity on its flight two months ago and begun its own investigation to pin down others responsible for the violation of safety and security rules.
The incident occurred on May 5 when its Mumbai-Mangalore flight IC-179 took off with three passengers in addition to the 172 passenger capacity of the Airbus A-321 aircraft operating the service, an AI spokesperson said.
One of the three extra passengers was also seated inside the cockpit on the 'jump seat' (the third seat besides the two meant for pilot and co-pilot) in complete violation of security guidelines, while the other two were accommodated on seats meant for the cabin crew.
These additional passengers were issued manual boarding passes as the computerised ones cannot be generated after a flight is completely booked.
The incident came to light when Directorate General of Civil Aviation was carrying out a probe into an incident involving the same flight at Mumbai airport in which the aircraft was towed back even before the aircraft doors were closed, damaging the aerobridge attached to it.
Acknowledging the incident, the spokesman said the commander of the flight, the co-pilot, a ground engineer, a driver of the tow tractor and five commercial staff were derostered.