After being grounded for days, Air India staff showed that even 30,000 feet above sea level they cannot be counted on. The safety of 106 passengers travelling on Saturday from Sharjah to Delhi via Lucknow was risked when four onboard crew — two pilots and two crew members — were involved in a brawl. The pilot and the steward have allegedly sustained injuries, and an airhostess has filed a case of sexual harassment against the pilots. Additional details are filtering out, some rumour, some fact: the pilot apparently had a history of bad behaviour, and he threatened to offload the entire crew in Karachi. (That alone is an appalling threat. Would the plane have flown crew-less?) An inquiry has been ordered, but you do not need one to pass this judgment: this petty indiscipline threatened many lives, and injured the already-battered reputation of India’s national carrier.

The pilots and crew members have been grounded by Air India, and a three-member panel is conducting an inquiry. The Delhi police have registered a criminal offence and are conducting their own parallel investigation. This is the least that should be done, given that the damage was not limited to the staff: it extended to the 106 bystanders whose lives were risked by those tasked (and paid) to ensure their safety. The investigation must be swift, the punishment exemplary. But more than most other sectors, airlines fly on their reputations for courtesy, efficiency and, above all, safety. No matter which individuals are eventually held responsible, the fact will remain that lives were endangered on Saturday, that because of the so-called national carrier there could have been a tricky diplomatic incident.

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