Air India Express is in trouble as one of its senior cabin crew was on duty despite testing positive for the coronavirus, an hour before taking the flight. According to a Hindustan Times report, the airlines was aware of her COVID-19 status.?An investigation is being conducted, regarding the same.?
The 44-year-old crew member had taken the RT-PCR test on November 12, and her results came just before the scheduled flight the next day from Indira Gandhi International airport, Delhi.?
The report further said that the employee had operated on the day and had returned to her base station via return flight on November 13. Even though she was in quarantine the next day, she was on duty for the whole day on November 13.?
“The said flight was a Delhi-Madurai flight, for which a pre-flight RT-PCR test is not mandatory. The head crew member was to operate the international sector the next day and hence had taken the test. However, she was quarantined from November 14 onwards and no other fellow crew members when tested were found infected. We will, however, surely investigate the matter,” an Air India Express spokesperson reportedly said.?
It is also unsure whether the employee was symptomatic or not.?
The report also mentioned that it has come to light that officials tried to manipulate the employee's report data in the scheduling system.?
“The system no longer showed that this senior employee had undergone the RT-PCR test on November 12, which meant that there would have been no (of the conducted test) on-record proof if the test report wasn’t accessed. Tampering already logged in data is illegal,” sources said.
“It’s true that a crew member can operate few domestic flights until his/her test reports are awaited. This is done in order to avoid a situation of crew shortage for airlines. But, it is completely unacceptable that an airline got the crew member tested only two days before her international flight (as per the statement by the airline, the crew had to operate an international flight on November 14) and also goes ahead, allowing her to operate flights even when she is confirmed to be?COVID-19?positive,” a senior official reportedly said.
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This is a clear violation of safety protocols set in place due to the pandemic. Vipul Saxena, aviation expert said,?“A detailed inquiry must be initiated to check the symptoms of the head crew member and also whether she was forced to take the flight."