A day after the arrest of Air Odisha Aviation Chairman and Managing Director Santosh Pani on charges of cheating, it remains a mystery how he continued to be in the air despite the many red flags.

Indeed, the sequences of events raise questions about air safety and governance.

According to Trideeb Raut, who played a key role in negotiating with both the Centre and the Odisha government to get AOA flying from January 19, both maintenance contractor Deccan Charters and aircraft provider Dublin-based ITCL had requested the Director-General of Civil Aviation to ground the airline at least a week ago.

“I don’t know how he could get away with all this. To me it’s a surprise,” Raut told BusinessLine over telephone from Bhubaneswar.

Complaints lodged At least two investors in AoA — Mitesh Khimji, director of a top Bhubaneswar-based jewellery outlet, and Sandeep Ray, son of Dilip Ray, BJP MLA from Rourkela — lodged complaints with the Odisha police alleging fraud by Pani as early as in April. Complaints had also been lodged by pilots and the airline security officer on non-payment of salary and dues. Yet, no action was taken.

Nor did the State government act on complaints by ITCL on May 3 accusing Pani of fraudulent activities and non-payment of lease rental for the nine-seater aircraft.

According to sources, Deccan stopped maintenance services on non-payment of dues by AoA, and intimated the DGCA as well as the State government.

AOA responded by suo motu cancelling the contract with the service provider and employing a new agency. Neither the DGCA nor the State acted.

ITCL and Deccan reportedly took the issue to the Aviation Ministry but to no avail. Pani continued to operate non-scheduled services to destinations in Odisha charging fares of ₹2,000-5,000.

Things started to change only two days ago, when Sandeep lodged a second complaint, which led to cancellation of services by the State government and Pani’s arrest on June 1. The Odisha government paid a cash subsidy of ₹222 per nautical mile to the airline. Unconfirmed reports put the subsidy already paid at nearly ₹1 crore in the three months of operation. Investors have allegedly lost nearly ₹3 crore. More investors are coming out to lodge complaints.

While the DGCA declined comment on the developments, passengers have been left in the lurch due to the abrupt cancellation of services.

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