An Air India pilot, who refused to switch a Mumbai-Jodhpur-Delhi flight with a direct Delhi bound flight to pick her order of Jodhpur onion kachoris, faces suspension by the airline authorities.
The airline had reportedly instructed Captain Smriti Trehan to operate a 2 pm Mumbai to Delhi flight which she ignored and went ahead with the previous schedule of the 12 pm Mumbai-Jodhpur-Delhi flight.
According to the report of Mumbai Mirror, the pilot refused to fly the direct flight on Sunday as she had to pick up an order of Jodhpur's famous onion kachoris which she had placed earlier.
Trehan, who hails from Delhi, was staying in a hotel in Mumbai when she received the Airline's instruction. However, she reached the airport at 12 pm and decided to operate the 12 pm flight.
The sources in the operation department of Air India told Mumbai Mirror that Trehan collected her food order from the Jodhpur airport which was delivered to her as soon as the aircraft landed. She immediately took off to Delhi as per schedule.
The scenario at Mumbai airport turned chaotic when the Mumbai-Delhi fight, which was scheduled to fly at 2 pm, was left without a pilot to operate. After nearly an hour, the authorities managed to arrange for a replacement and the fight took off to Delhi at 3pm.
The Chairman and Managing director of Air India, Rohit Nandan, later revealed that a probe was initiated into the matter during which two senior officials of the airline tried to scuttle the inquest. As a result, the inquiry was kept open.
