Action initiated against Jet Airways crew who allowed Sonu Nigam to sing during the flight

The cockpit crew and six cabin crew of a private airline have been taken off flying duty pending investigation, after Sonu Nigam was allowed to sing in the flight on 4 January, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said on 19 July.

The cabin crew in-charge was suspended for 15 days and all the crew members issued warning letters, Raju said in Rajya Sabha while assuring members that no compromise will be allowed on passenger safety.

"It is not as if no action is being taken and, definitely, frivolous activities will not be encouraged," he said in reply to supplementaries during Question Hour.

"The public address system in aircraft is basically meant to reach out information of all kinds to the passengers. Safety and security will never be compromised and if there are aberrations, they will be attended to as per the rules and regulations," he said.

He said all airlines have their methods about how they govern such things, but in case of a violation, the aviation regulator DGCA takes note and suspend the erring staff from their services for a particular period of time, which causes a pecuniary loss to the people who work in those airlines.

"These things do happen and they take action, but comprising the safety and security of the passengers will never be allowed," he said.

The incident occurred when Sonu Nigam held an impromptu performance on a Jet Airways flight following requests by some passengers using the public address system. Later, the airline issued a statement saying it had suspended all cabin crew of the Jodhpur-Mumbai flight and was enforcing corrective measures and taking disciplinary action.

To another supplementary on public facing harassment in the absence of use of public address system at some airports, Raju said "In congested airports, there is a problem as they have to be silent airports. Otherwise, it will become a cacophony, and the world over, such practices are there in congested airports. So we are following the same system."

--PTI