A controversy has broken out after a senior Air India official purportedly travelled on a “General Declaration” — essentially meant for cockpit and cabin crew of an aircraft who are entitled to visa exemption — to Singapore on November 14 on an Air India flight.
The senior official, general manager (Operations — Northern Region) Capt. Chetan Prakash, travelled on the aircraft as a “Staff on Duty (SOD)”. Air India has defended the official, saying he was attending an international conference in Singapore in his official capacity on behalf of the airline. Capt. Prakash is himself a senior pilot but did not pilot the aircraft that day.
When contacted recently by this newspaper, Capt. Prakash refused to comment, saying any query should be directed to the airline. In response to a query by this newspaper, an Air India official said, “Capt. Prakash was attending an aviation conference — organised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on operational efficiency at Singapore from November 14 — on behalf of Air India. He is entitled to travel and must have secured the necessary approvals.”
But a section of pilots of the airline are not convinced and plan to complain to the civil aviation ministry. “Travelling on a general declaration that entails visa exemption in order to attend a conference is in violation of rules and bilateral agreements between India and Singapore. Travel under general declaration is essentially meant for the operating crew of a flight,” alleged a pilot on condition of anonymity.
Another pilot said, “Even the Air India pilots sent to Singapore for the Boeing 787 ‘dreamliner’ training do not travel under the general declaration. They travel on visas issued by Singapore.”
On its part, the civil aviation ministry has been cracking the whip to ensure that rules are followed by Air India. Just recently, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh had “directed Air India to withdraw with immediate effect the facility available to pilots to travel as an additional crew member during time off/ leave” after a case of alleged misuse was detected.