The perils of an aircraft put at a client’s disposal Premium 3 min read Read Full Story Like high-altitude air, evidence of marriages being made in heaven has always been thin. Even if done at a considerable height above the ground, a whole set of temporal rules apply, as the Madurai couple that got married on Sunday aboard a SpiceJet Boeing 737 chartered for the purpose would have discovered. The groom, a businessman, arranged a special flight for over 150 guests to circle the city’s Meenakshi temple while rituals were performed mid-air, before the aircraft returned to Madurai airport some two hours after take-off. A celebratory gaggle around an exchange of garlands is a common sight of terrestrial matrimony, but a video clip of similar festivity (without masks) on this plane drew the attention of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). In response, the regulator took the flight’s pilots and cabin crew off the flying roster, directed the ‘no-frills’ airline to file complaints against passengers who flouted covid safety norms, and launched a probe of the incident. On its part, SpiceJet claimed that its staff tried to ensure adherence to pandemic protocols and DGCA guidelines against photo- and videography, but to no avail. The carrier, however, has much to answer for. What happened was not a minor lapse, must not be viewed in a relativist context of social empathy, and those responsible deserve no leniency.