Air India Express has opened an investigation into why a cabin crew member was allowed to work on a flight after testing positive for Covid-19.
The airline was aware that the employee tested positive about one hour before departure but still allowed her to complete her duty that day.
The airline argues testing is not mandatory for domestic flights but the senior crew member was tested as she was scheduled to work an international round trip the next day.
It has vowed to fully investigate the matter.
"It was a Delhi-Madurai flight, for which a pre-flight PCR test is not mandatory. The head crew member was to operate the international sector the next day and hence had taken the test. However, she was quarantined (the next day) and no other fellow crew members when tested were found infected. We will, however, surely investigate the matter," the airline told Hindustan Times.
However, a source tells the news outlet the airline may have tried to cover it up.
"The system no longer showed that this senior employee had undergone the PCR test which meant that there would have been no on-record proof, if the test report wasn’t accessed," the source said.
Written by Ray Montgomery, Asia Editor
