Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Thursday said the incident of IndiGo passengers eating on tarmac on Sunday was a shameful one and he does not mind accepting it. Safety and the security of the passengers is the primary focus of civil aviation and hence a meeting was convened past midnight after the incident came to light, the minister said. IndiGo has been fined ₹1.20 crore and Mumbai Airport ₹90 lakh in connection with the incident. The penalty was necessary, the minister said amid flights facing delays, and cancellations owing to the prevailing fog situation in Delhi.

“There are the vagaries of nature over which unfortunately we don’t have control. Those vagaries of nature happen all across the globe. We have a couple of very bad fog days in Delhi. As you all are aware, there are some base stations in any civil aviation ecosystem. When due to weather or any other incident, the base station gets affected, it produces a cycle of unfortunate delays and cancellations across the length and breadth of the system,” the minister said.

“We have a few days of zero visibility in Delhi…landing and take-offs are not determined by runway capabilities alone…” Scindia said explaining what happened to the Delhi-Goa IndiGo flight which was diverted to Mumbai and the passengers came on the tarmac. “As opposed to it (the aircraft) going into the parking stand, for reasons that I can’t even imagine, it was sent to a parking bay…Within hours of being informed that the incident happened, a meeting was held with all officials, showcase notice was immediately issued,” the minister said.

“The fact the passengers were inconvenienced, the fact that they had to eat on the tarmac, the fact that security had been compromised across all points was unacceptable. Within 3-4 hours, notices were issued and within 24 hours of the notices being issued, the necessary penalties have been levied,” Scindia said adding that a clear SOP has been issued reminding the airlines what they should do in such a case.

“The aircraft should be taken at a contact stand. Passengers should be deboarded. They should be provided with meals. When the new crew comes, then the passengers should be moved from arrival to departure, go through security and board again — but in an environment which is comfortable for the passengers,” the minister said.