Tejasvi Surya ‘accidentally’ opened the emergency door of IndiGo flight: Government

The Government on Thursday said BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had "accidentally" opened the emergency door of IndiGo's Chennai-Trichy flight but the airline did not find any violation of any rule.

This was disclosed by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen VK Singh (retired) in a written reply to a question raised by Trinamool Congress MP Mala Roy. The incident on IndiGo flight on December 10 last year had triggered a controversy.

"As per the report submitted by InterGlobe Aviation Limited, the name of the passenger alleged in the incident is Shri Tejasvi Surya who had boarded flight 6E-7339 (Chennai to Tiruchirappalli) at Chennai Airport on December 10, 2022,” he said.

Also Read: Tejasvi opened emergency door 'by mistake': Tamil Nadu BJP Prez K Annamalai

“The emergency door opened accidently as clarified by InterGlobe Aviation Limited. This was not a deliberate action and as per InterGlobe Aviation, they did not find the passenger to be in violation of any rule," Singh said.

As per Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), Singh said, the occurrence did not come under the category of 'reportable occurrence'. "The matter was investigated by the concerned airline. The occurrence took place while the aircraft was on ground and the flight departed only after completing all the safety checks/ protocols," he added.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had last month said Surya himself reported the incident where he accidentally opened the emergency exit of the IndiGo plane and apologised for it.

In another written reply, Singh said as per maintenance procedures prescribed by the manufacturer, the emergency exit door is required to be installed back and pressurisation check carried out before the aircraft is released for flight.