IndiGo} November 8, 2017 Honble minster of cl Aviation aly Gandhi Bhawan ‘New Dethi~ 110003, Kind AStention: She P Ashok Gajpath Raj, Hn’ ble Minster of Cl Aviation ‘Subs incident at Delhi Airport on October 18,2017, esr, “This isin eference tos customer relations incident that happened at Delhi airport on October 15, 2017 ‘You would have seen vdeo cp ofthis being played on varius media channels since last evening. [At the very outeet, let me star off by acknowledging that we were at fault and we not only apologize {for this regretable incident, we have also taken action, ‘As a responsible organization, we recognize that we have a high degree of duty towards our customers ‘Treating ou customers with respects core to what we do. | personally called and apologzed to Mr Katya (the customer) 3 weeks ago Not now, but onthe very same night In fac, | remember teling Mr Katyal that had seen the vdeo and assured him that we wil Investigate this matter thorough Even during the pendency of the investigation, we recognized that whatever may have been the provocation, my collegues should have exercised restraint. Even wile the investigation was being ‘ondicted, we immediately suspended the involved employees ‘The exemployee, Monts Kalra who was terminated ad isclaing tobe the ‘whistleblower, the one you can hear shouting i the vdeo ana instructing te other two coveagues wo were junior to rim to ‘revent the custome from boarding the bus and Rolin him ack at the ramp area itsel ‘Mont Kara was cargo employee. He had no reason to approach the passenger area. He had no reason to prevent the custome fom boarding the bus. He had no reason to scream instructions at his other collegues, nfact, even fhe chose to get invoNed since he was 4 years senior to them inthe Company, he should have acted maturelyand apologized tothe customer and let im proceed towards the aval bal On the other hand, what he actualy dis was that he instigated the Incident and further provoke the custome by begining to shoot a video on his mobile phone. He ithe exact opposite of what IndiGo’s custome service stands for rr \simportan for us to poi ut that Monty Kar was not terninated because either shot avieo oF ashe is now caiming, brought this to our attention. Infact, the realty that itis the other employee, 4 NOSE enc merino maintenant awit ‘Somerton woh pte Fe Fa tn eeJuby Thomas isthe one who raised this issue with his supervisor as per IndiGo's standard operating procedure and brought thisincsent tothe attention ofthe Company. Heving sid this tis imperative that you and our lions of customers are aware of the tre fats ofthis case and why we tok the actions that we id Background ofthe incident oy wey of bocground, when an arcraft ie parked atthe parking hay after landing there is avery hih- level of ambient noise from the auiliary power unt, the airconditioning packs of the arrat, the motorized baggie conveyor bet passenger buss and from other craft inthe vicinity ‘fer passengers have deplaned ite id down procedure than the interest of safety, passengers be prevented fom approaching any af theve ground equipment beng used \When our staffuby Thomas sw Mr, Kaya inadvertently moving towards the catering hight (which was attached tothe aircraft), by Thomas started waving tania from distance inorder to ask Mr kKatyal to move away withthe sole intention of preventing aay accident. When Mr, Katal could not ‘comprehend what Juby Thomas was tring to convey, aby Thomas started shouting in 2 much louder ‘oie to overcome the very loud ambient oie around the arcrat. It is possible thet due tothe very nosy ramp area, Mr, Katya ould not hear Iuby Thon propery and ‘which ead toa miscommunication where Mr Katyalmay have fet that by Thomas wa: being rude The realty is that aby Tomas was only eying to ensure the safety of Mr. Katya and prevent an accident |We understand hat Mr. Katya wa rated an irate, Unfortunately, atthe spur of thermomentitseems tha Mr Katyal ake Juby Thomas to°F*°*-*FF nhindsght, by Thomas should have probably ignored ‘the remark. However, by Thomas turne around and asked Mr. Katya why he is abusing him. To this Me atal responded by asking Juby Thomas ogo do hs own work. “The ron of thefactis that iby Thomas was indeed doing his work and ensuring safetyof passengers, Iman deal scentio, Me. Katyal would have moved away, boarded the bus from the ramp area and gone to te arrival hal and the mater would have ended ther, However, unforunatey, what transpired was something that i nt in acordance wih the lal down procedures and resulted in an incident which sa departute fom indGo's ethos. “The next few paragraphs seekto explain the incident in deta including what actual transpired based on screenshots fem the video cp. We also seek to explain why Mont Kalra was terminated from the rls Cf indo and the other two employees, Juby Thomas and Sahv Sharma were issued warning letters Seene 1 [A the very beginning ofthe video, you wil note that Mont Karas shouting at thetwo employees who {are unir to him and instructing them to prevent Mr. Katya from boarding the bus. There was absolutely ro reason fr Mont Kala to prevent one of our customers from boarding the bus. At recelving these instructions from Mont Kalra, uby Thomas approached Mr Katyal and requested him not o board the bus. tthe same time, Sah Sharma gives te signal othe bus driver to depart. YSinthis screenshot, itis quite obvious that Mr. Ktyalis arguing with Juby Thomas, forcing himself to enter the bus even when he is beieg requested not to. Throughout this time, by Thomas continues to keep a safe distance from Mr. Kay tis quite obvious that Juby Thomas i continuing to follow laid down procedures. Infact e continues to be calm ‘Scene2 “The screenshot below shows thatthe conversation between Juby Thomas and Mr. Katya continges while the other passengers boat the bus, luby Thomas continues to eman calm and never pushed ME Katy. He only requested him to step asideThis screenshot crcl Wl Juby Thomas is keeping a safe distance, the lose, Mr, Katya aches outand grabs Juby Thomas’ ace.‘After escorting Mr Kaya away from uby Thomas, Sah Sharma immediately lego of Mr. Katya wile Jy Thomas is now ealing his supervisor (following the standard protocol) Even at this stage, despite having already been physically assulted once Juby Thomas doesnot engage in any argument with Mr. atyal and keeps eam and maintains distance. “This screenshot critica rom a perspective of why a stern warning letter was issued to Sahiv Sharma eventhough his involvement was only separating the customer fom Juby Thomas, “The letter was issued to him because he was seen smiling nt the camera while separating Mr Katy, “which snot something IniGo would expect from its employees given the serousnes ofthe station, Scenes From the screenshots below, one can see that unfortunately that even after Mr. Katyal was sarated from uty Thomas, he once again charges towards uby Thomas and grabbed Juby Thomas face and tries to pl by Thomas towards inset andi the process both of them lse balance and fall othe ground.When they fl you can see that both Joby Thomas hands are onthe tarmacand the passengeris pabbing Jiuby Thomas by te neck and ting him, At tis stage, Juby Thomas in self defense tris to distance himself from Mr. Katyal by extending his hand and placing ion Me. Katya's colar bone. Juby Thomas s cual tying to nove away while he continues to get assaulted uby Thomas never gt the opportunity tormove away from thestuation ine Mr, Ktyal was holaing him by the coll. Its pertinent to rote that whatever the provocation be, Juby Thomas was out of ine and ate in & manner that is nat consistent with what we stand for a IndiGo, even if it had been for self-defense, Therefore Juby Thomas was issued a final warning letter wy 6 ea\Whie the above narration helps st ut the facts, we find ths incident excremely regrettable and wish that we would have handled this different. Whatever may have been the provocation, whether verbal ‘or physical abuse, we could have trie to display more restraint ‘As soon as we received information about this incident, we immediately took ction At the fs instance, ‘personally called and apologized to the customer and assure him that we wil Investigate this thoroughly and take appropriate action without delay. The employees were immediately suspended, and we ‘conducted detaled investgation. ‘The unfortunate incident shculd have been avoided by improving our communication with the customer. “The realty ithat my colleagues were only trying to actin the best interest ofthe safety of Mr. Katya and ‘uying to prevent a potential serious mishap. [A Indio, we are acutely aware ofthe ath and rut that hundreds of thousands of customers bestow ‘onusevery day. We know we are nt perfect but we ry hard every day nour pursuit fr excellence, and ‘create brand and an orgoitation that this county canbe proud of. ‘We wil ry harder (behalf of ndio, once again extend my perzanal and sincere apologies to Mr. Katya Yours sincerely, President & Wholetime Director Copy to: Shisayant Sina, Minister of State (iil Aviation) ‘Sh RN. Coubey (IAS), Secretary, Ministry of Cl Alation ‘hr. hula (IAS), Director Genera, Directorate Gener of Gil Aviation ‘hi Lalit Gupta Joint rector Genera, Directorate General of Ci Aviation Director General, BAS Director General, Central industrial Secu Force