Aviation firm files ₹3 crore defamation suit against Nora Fatehi for ‘toy plane’ remark

An aviation company has filed a ₹3-crore civil defamation suit against Bollywood actor Nora Fatehi at a Gandhinagar court, alleging that her “derogatory and reckless” comments on social media calling its chartered aircraft a “Lego airplane” severely damaged its reputation.

The court of senior civil judge R Agarwal will hear the matter on September 25.

According to the suit filed by Dunes Aviation, Mr. Fatehi recorded videos inside a Cessna Citation CJ2 aircraft during a Mumbai-Jaipur flight in December last year, describing the aircraft as a “miniature”, a “toy” and a “Lego airplane” and posted them on her Instagram handle.

The company alleged that “reckless” statements made by the actor, who has more than 4.6 crore followers, triggered booking cancellations and severely hurt its commercial operations.

The suit, filed in April this year, stated that Fatehi’s statements were “reckless, irresponsible, and made without any technical knowledge, verification or factual basis”.

Dunes Aviation said that owing to Fatehi’s substantial follower base, her “reckless statements” have caused “serious reputational damage, loss of goodwill and adverse commercial impact” to the company.

The company has suffered a 15-20% drop in bookings and a rise in cancellations.

It said the aircraft was standard and ideally sized for the journey undertaken by the defendant, is fully DGCA-certified, airworthy and lawfully operated under a valid NSOP.

Apart from ₹3 crore in damages, the suit also sought the court’s direction for immediate removal of all content from social media platforms containing the statement or references to the aircraft, and a public clarification by the actor.