Karnataka: Now, AirAsia suspends two ground staffers over governor row

BENGALURU: Four days after suspending its station manager, AirAsia India on Wednesday suspended two ground staffers on charges of 'failure to wait for the Karnataka governor' after he missed his Hyderabad flight at Bengaluru airport on July 27.
Sources said the airline's woman staffer posted at the boarding gate and the man stationed on the ramp on the afternoon on July 27 were suspended for 30 days over 'dereliction of duty'.The suspension comes despite netizens appreciating the airline crew for doing duty keeping the interest of regular passengers in mind.
On that afternoon, governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot was to board AirAsia flight I5 972 from Bengaluru to Hyderabad scheduled to take off at 2.05pm.
Over 100 passengers had boarded the flight that took off on time without much delay, but Gehlot reached the boarding gate only at 2.07pm to realise the flight had departed without him.
The governor's team lodged a complaint with the airline and the ministry of civil aviation citing lapses on the part of AirAsia's ground staff, leading Gehlot to miss the flight. Raj Bhavan maintains that Gehlot arrived on time, but a miscommunication by the airline crew caused the situation.
On Saturday, AirAsia's Bengaluru airport station manager Zico Soares was placed under 30 days' suspension on charges of not waiting for the VIP. Airport sources confirmed that Soares had cleared the flight as over 100 passengers had boarded and ready-to-take-off on-time flight to Hyderabad, but there was no sign of the governor even though his two staff members had arrived earlier with his bags.
"Senior AirAsia officials met the governor at his office on Monday and apologised for the incident and informed him on the suspension of the station manager. They told the governor that further action will be taken against more staff on duty on the day," a senior official at Raj Bhavan said.
Following the Monday meeting with Gehlot, AirAsia de-rostered the male and female ground staffers from their daily duties with the airline at Bengaluru Airport. AirAsia India (now AIX Connect) didn't comment on the matter.