When Kerala Governor was not allowed to board flight for reporting late

The national carrier Air India found itself in the midst of a controversy on Wednesday after its flight bound for Thiruvananthapuram flew out of the Cochin global airport on Tuesday night without Governor P. Sathasivam who was scheduled to board it.

Mr Sathasivam was chief justice of India for a year till April 2014.

The Governor was then given lodging on the Ernakulam Guest House. The flight remained in the bay for a couple of minutes giving the impression that the Governor may be allowed to board, but that was not to be, the police said.

All passengers were on board by 11.24 pm. Sathasivam arrived at the tarmac minutes before takeoff. “We waited till 11.30 for any update on the Governor”. 28 pm, minutes before its departure, but the ladder was pulled up and the plane prepped for take-off. “Following numerous complaints from common passengers, AI chairman Ashwani Lohani had issued a directive that flights should not be delayed for any non-technical reason like accommodating VVIPs”, said an airport source.

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that he would enquire about the incident. However, the airport authorities explained that the flight left before the governor reached.

Sources at Raj Bhavan faulted Air India for a “communication gap” between the flight crew and the ground staff that resulted in the faux pas.

After attending some official programmes in Thrissur and Kochi as reported, the governor reached the airport at 10.40 pm as it was informed that the flight will depart at 10.45 pm. Following this, he had to stay back in Kochi, and reached Thiruvananthapuram this morning via road.