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That hurts! Air India’s ‘Unbeatable Service’ ad takes veiled dig at IndiGo incident
A video showing a passenger being manhandled by IndiGo’s staff has put the country’s leading private carrier in a tight spot.
With IndiGo facing flak over the assault of a passenger by a staffer, rival Air India took an apparent dig at the country’s leading private carrier on Wednesday, promising “Unbeatable Service”.
The national carrier released two advertisements on Twitter in its veiled jibe at IndiGo after a video showed one of its employees entering into a scuffle with a passenger.
In one of the ads, the Air India promised “Unbeatable Service” with the letters ‘beat’ highlighted in blue -- the theme colour of IndiGo.
The second ad depicts the Air India’s mascot ‘Maharaja’ in his trademark style with a tag line: “We raise our hands ONLY to say Namaste.”
The private airline, meanwhile, came in for criticism on Twitter for the last month’s incident with some calling for its boycott.
“A no fly ban is a must on this airline till these guys are arrested with an attempt to murder #BoycottIndigo,” tweeted Aditya Thackeray, the president of Shiv Sena’s youth wing.
BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain posted on the microblogging site: “This kind of arrogant behaviour seems to have become the norm for @IndiGo6E. I hear of rude behaviour instances by Indigo on regular basis.”
Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi tweeted, “After seeing the brutal assault on a passenger, almost throttling him to death, should Indigo not be boycotted - at least for a month?”
Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju has sought an independent inquiry into the incident from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
IndiGo has also written to the ministry apologising for the incident and admitting that it was at fault.
However, it defended the employee seen in the video entering into a brawl and said “he was doing his work” and trying to ensure the safety of the passenger.
