Manama: Kuwait has revoked the licence of a Kuwait Airways pilot who had invited a porn star and her “glamorous” friend into the cockpit.
The decision announced by Transportation Minister Eisa Al Kindari in a report to the parliament was taken following an investigation he ordered in July when news about the unprecedented security breach and ethical violation broke out.
The report, a copy of which was obtained by Kuwaiti daily Al Jareeda, said that the co-captain was demoted over his role in the case that shook Kuwaitis to the core. The plane crew was not aware of what was happening inside the cockpit and no punitive action was taken against any member, Al Jareeda said on Saturday.
Al Kindari stressed the compliance of Kuwait Airways with the strict regulations adopted following the September 11 acts of terrorism.
The investigation team in its report spelled out several recommendations that included tougher measures related to the cockpit, including the revocation of the licence of any pilot who smokes inside it.
The team said it found no evidence the pilot or the co-pilot drank alcohol during the flight under investigation.
The “urgent investigation” was ordered by the minister “to check the reports and the pictures that have been circulated on this issue.”
“If the reports and pictures are proven true, we will take action against the people involved and we will announce the conclusions to the people of Kuwait,” Al Kindari said in July.
Al Kindari ordered the “immediate recall” of the Kuwaiti pilot allegedly involved in the case from the Thai capital Bangkok where he was when the case was published in the British media.
In a statement, Kuwait Airways said that it would carry out a “full investigation” into the report that one of its captains in 2013 invited a female passenger into the cockpit during a flight from London’s Heathrow to JFK airport in New York.
In its report, the Daily Star said that the pilot invited Chloe Mafia, an ex-porn star, and her “glamorous friend” into the cockpit, ordered them champagne and told them to sit on his knee.
Mafia, whose real name Chloe Khan, claimed the married pilot wanted to look at her body and boasted about intimate relations with stewardesses.
“We were sitting in business class about 30 minutes after take-off,” Chloe said, quoted by the daily. “The seatbelt signs had just gone off and a stewardess came and said the pilot wanted us to go to the cockpit. They locked the door and the captain introduced himself and said ‘Hi, I’m the naughty pilot’.
“He said he lets sexy girls in the cockpit, even though he is not supposed to, because he ‘made the rules’. The pilot told the stewardess to get us a bottle of champagne, which me and my friend drank.
“He started smoking, which I thought was odd, but he said he was the pilot and could do what he wanted. I asked if it was safe as I was worried and he just said people were ‘too fussy’ about safety. I was stunned,” she said.
According to the newspaper report, Chloe, 24, said the pilots did not drink any of the alcohol but the captain smoked 40 cigarettes throughout the journey.
For the next few hours he entertained the two women by singing songs including The Lion King’s Hakuna Matata and Toni Braxton’s Un-break My Heart.
He also asked them to sit on his knee as he flew the plane.
“He was showing us what each of the buttons did and said we could sit on his knee and wear his pilot’s cap and fly the plane. I pushed something. I don’t know what it did but he said it was fine as the plane flew itself,” Chloe was quoted as saying.
“He was boasting he’d slept with half the stewardesses, which we thought was funny as he wasn’t attractive. I wasn’t drinking much and when he asked why, I said I was recovering from a boob job. He asked if he could see them but they were bandaged up so I said no. He was a total sleaze. He was calling us sexy and asked us to call him naughty. You could tell he was getting off on it. The co-pilot didn’t smoke or really say that much – he made a couple of jokes but thankfully he seemed more concerned with flying the plane.”
