Indigo derostered two pilots and four cabin members in the incident related to a bomb threat on Delhi-Varanasi flight earlier this week. Around 176 passengers were evacuated because of a bomb threat through emergency windows at Delhi Airport. The threat later turned out to be a hoax. The evacuation video which went viral on social media showed a pilot coming out of the aircraft and taking the emergency slide along with his baggage. However, as per international safety rules, passengers or crew members cannot take baggage while evacuating the flight for a safe and quick exit.
Why is baggage not allowed during evacuation?
According to International standards, evacuation needs to be completed within 90 seconds with the help of emergency exits. Flyers should leave baggage and heels as they can harm the slides and cause delays in the evacuation process, a senior commander told news agency PTI.
It is learned that the aircraft scheduled for the Delhi to Varanasi flight on Tuesday morning May 28 was operated under a wet lease. The derostered pilots belong to the lessor company whereas the four cabin crew members were from Indigo. Usually, under a wet lease, a lessor is responsible for handling crew, insurance, and other related things of the aircraft.
‘’Safety is our primary concern and our crew members performed their duty in the interest of our customers’ safety. A review will be done by our flight safety team as per our standard safety and security procedures,’’ a spokesperson of Indigo said. The review will investigate various aspects of flight safety conducted by the team.
(With inputs from PTI)