Hyderabad/Mumbai: Continuing its “ban”, Air India cancelled a ticket booked for Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad to travel to Delhi from Mumbai. A report from Hyderabad said another ticket booked for Mr Gaikwad from the Shamshabad airport to Delhi was also cancelled.
Mr Gaikwad was to attend a private function at Hyderabad on Wednesday morning and return to Delhi by AI-559. Air India spokesperson Dhananjay Kumar said the ticket had been cancelled as Mr Gaikwad was on the no-fly list. Mr Gaikwad, who had slapped and hit the national carrier’s 60-year-old duty manager “25 times” with his sandal when the official persuaded him to disembark after the plane landed at the IGI airport in New Delhi from Pune on March 23, has become the first flier to be moved to the no-fly list of all Indian airlines.
AI officials said Gaikwad was also booked to travel to Delhi on Wednesday on Flight AI 806. “The MP had booked an open ticket (where the date of the flight can be adjusted after the ticket is booked) before the (slapping) incident, which was rebooked for Wednesday,” said an official.
