An AirAsia India pilot, who is also a prolific YouTuber, uploaded a video on Monday to explain that he was suspended after raising the issue of the "violation of passenger safety norms" and COVID-19 safety protocols by Air Asia India.
Today I have been officially suspended from @AirAsiaIndian for standing up for safe operations of an aircraft and its passengers.@AwakenIndia #SabkeLiye
— Gaurav Taneja (@flyingbeast320) June 14, 2020
Talking about various "safety blunders" such as an "unfavourable" sick leave policy, where he claimed he was asked to report to work despite being sick, the pilot, Gaurav Taneja accused the airline of violating the aviation regulator's COVID-19 safety guidelines in terms of "severe lack of management" and "its casual attitude" towards safety.
“If you are feeling sick and still fly a plane, it can endanger the lives of passengers on board and it is as good as committing murder,” he argued.
The Indian aviation watchdog Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued safety guidelines in March when cases started to become more numerous in the country. These included the thermal screening of passengers and the regular sanitation and fumigation of terminals, before the operations were temporarily halted on 25 March.
The pilot said he was served a show-cause notice after he took up the issue with the airline authorities and was later suspended under the guise of “COVID-19 restructuring”. The airline -- a joint venture between AirAsia Berhad (49%) and Tata Sons (51%)-- has yet to react to the issue.
After the YouTube Video surfaced, #BoycottAirAsia is trending on Monday on Twitter with over 22,000 tweets in support of the YouTuber-turned-pilot who has 2.8 million subscribers on YouTube. On Twitter he is known as flyingbeast320.
Air asia company motto "Now everyone can fly" 🙄. We want to fly with you ,but not at the cost of safety. #flyingbeast #SAFETYFIRST #BoycottAirAsiaIndia pic.twitter.com/vuoIPv0539
— saritvarma (@saritvarma) June 15, 2020
Let's hit where it hurts. Stocks are collapsing. We are heading into right direction #BoycottAirAsiaIndia pic.twitter.com/2UFx00FrOk
— Om (@2025OMG) June 15, 2020
Suspend Chief of Flight Air Safety of @AirAsia , he took safety of Lakhs of passengers as joke when contacted and only cared to downgrade the world class pilot Mr. Gaurav Taneja. #BoycottAirAsiaIndia
— Arnav B (@ArnavB5) June 15, 2020
#BoycottAirAsiaIndia Apologize to @flyingbeast320 give him his job back, suspend that guy who played against him and change the procedure as per his ideas.
— Gaurav K (@GauravKOP94) June 15, 2020
And I'm never flying @AirAsiaIndian ever again. https://t.co/c6dvHIuGLb
Recently, a low-cost Indian carrier, GoAir, faced a backlash on Twitter after an employee allegedly made some charged statements. As #BoycottGoAir trended on the micro-blogging site, the airline swung into action and terminated the employee.
