Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri spoke about the flying ban imposed on Kunal Kamra by multiple airlines, in Lok Sabha on Tuesday. “He tried to disrupt normal functioning. It would have gone unnoticed, he recorded the incident himself&put it on social media.The concerned airline put him under no flying period.Others also followed,” he said.
He added, “I don't care who it is, whether it's a member of House or anyone. Anybody who threatens the physical security of an aircraft, inside the aircraft while it is airborne deserve no consideration.”
After other airlines, Vistara too barred the stand-up comedian from its flights till April 27. Kamra took to Twitter to write, “Air vistara has also banned me now till the 27th April, following orders like they show... at a time where no one can fly, all I want to say is, neither am I sorry nor am I surprised, nor am I suffering...”
A Vistara spokesperson said, “Based on the order passed by an internal committee constituted by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. in compliance with the respective CAR and following due process, we have placed the passenger on our no-fly list until 27 April, 2020,” said a Vistara spokesperson.
The decision came following Kunal Kamra’s confrontation with Arnab Goswami on Indigo Airlines in January. Thereafter, Kamra had been banned by all airlines except Vistara and AirAsia.
On 28 January, Kamra had posted a video on Twitter of him speaking to Goswami in a flight. In the video, he asked the journalist a number of questions. He went on to ask him if he’s a journalist or a “coward”. He also said that Arnab had called him mentally unstable when he had first approached him.
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