Angry that air-conditioning in the Jet Airways aircraft they had boarded was not functioning properly, several Maharashtra ministers and legislators raised a ruckus until the 80-minute flight was aborted before take-off. The high-profile passengers then reached Nagpur on a different aircraft for the winter session of the State Legislature and virtually forced the government to order a probe into the incident. ‘‘The government will lodge a First Information Report against the airlines after consulting experts on the issue. Besides, a high-level inquiry will be conducted,’’ Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil assured the Assembly. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry, however, reacted cautiously. ‘‘We are looking into the matter,’’ said Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, adding, ‘‘We will see if there was anything life-threatening. We will also see if it deserves an inquiry.’’ The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has already begun a preliminary inquiry, he added. Flight No 9W-111 was scheduled to leave Mumbai at 7.05 am on Monday and reach Nagpur at 8.25 am. But as the aircraft was taxiing towards the runway, some of the 10 ministers and 40 legislators on board complained of suffocation. State Labour Minister Baba Siddiqui, State BJP President Gopinath Munde, NCP legislator Jitendra Awhad and others promptly brought their discomfort to the notice of the airline staff. When their protests didn’t have the desired result, the ministers moved towards the cockpit. Airport sources said the pilot tried to reason with the ministers, explaining that the temperature inside the aircraft would stabilise once it attained a certain altitude after take-off. But the passengers demanded that the pilot abort the flight. Sources said the agitated MLAs—Munde and Siddiqui were allegedly the most vocal—started cursing and abusing the pilot. Then, a livid Siddiqui forcibly opened a plane door, forcing the pilot to abort the flight, they added. After the plane returned to bay 35 minutes later, senior Jet Airways officials attempted to pacify the VIP passengers, who were then put on another aircraft, which left for Nagpur at 9.25 am. When contacted, a Jet Airways spokesperson, A K Shivanandan, said the incident was unfortunate. Admitting that one system of the air-conditioning unit was not functioning, Shivanandan said, ‘‘We have a duplicate system. When airborne, it can function without any difficulty and become fully operational. It was not a factor affecting safety of passengers on the aircraft.’’ The air-conditioning problem was rectified and the same aircraft later flew to Vadodara, he added. However, Munde alleged in the Assembly that ‘‘the pilot refused to halt the plane. Something serious would have happened had the pilot gone ahead with the flight.’’
