JC Diwakar Reddy, the Telugu Desam Party MP who damaged airport property and created a ruckus at the Visakhapatnam airport on Thursday morning after being denied a boarding pass for arriving late, has been banned by IndiGo, Air India SpiceJet and Jet Airways.
The incident comes just months after another parliamentarian, Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Gaikwad had beaten up a 63-year-old Air India manager and bragged about it. The incident had prompted several airlines to ban him from flying till he eventually apologized.
The outrage over the assault had led the Civil Aviation Minister to announce rules to ban unruly passengers from flying.
J C Diwakar Reddy has been banned by all domestic airlines following his alleged unruly behaviour at the Visakhapatnam airport as he was denied boarding for an IndiGo flight.
Full-service carrier Vistara and budget airlines – GoAir and AirAsia India – on Friday barred Reddy from their flights. Air India, SpiceJet and Jet Airways followed IndiGo on Wednesday, which imposed the flying ban on him.
This isn’t the first time that Mr Reddy – whose son-in-law Deepak Reddy was arrested last week in a multi-crore land scam in Hyderabad – faces allegations of misbehaving with airline staffers.
Last October, JC was caught on camera creating a ruckus at the Vijayawada airport after he missed his flight, again because he had showed up well after the check-in counter had closed. According to reports, he was alleged to have barged into the Air India office and damaged furniture.
IndiGo will not allow Mr Reddy on its flights, a top airline official told news agency .
IndiGo says Mr Reddy was supposed to board a flight from Visakhapatnam to Hyderabad at 8:10 am, but he reached only 28 minutes before the scheduled departure. According to aviation regulator norms, check-in counters for all domestic flights are supposed to close 45 minutes before departure.
JC, 73, was accommodated on the same flight after he allegedly threw a fit of rage and also broke a printer meant to issue boarding passes by the airline.later he also pushed the Indigo manager aside openly and this was also caught on camera.
“I boarded the same flight subsequently,” a proud Mr Reddy told “Airlines have become like buses. They must have sold their tickets for a much higher price,” he alleged.
