An Indian government minister issued an apology on Thursday after three passengers were ordered off a domestic flight just before take-off last week so he could have a seat.
After facing widespread flak on the social media, junior home minister Kiren Rijiju insisted he was unaware at the time that any passengers had been forced to make way for him and his entourage but he was nevertheless “sorry to those people who were offloaded” from the Air India flight.
“I wasn’t aware of the deboarding of passengers and I have already expressed my regret about it,” Rijiju told AFP over the phone.
“If I had been aware, I wouldn’t have let it happen.”
Rijiju blamed the state-run airline, saying it had changed the scheduled take-off time of the flight from Leh to New Delhi, “causing inconvenience to all”.
Although there was no immediate confirmation on how many passengers were offloaded, reports put the number at three. There was no immediate response from Air India.