Lion Air pilot grounded after beating hotel clerk over ironing

JAKARTA - A pilot for Indonesia's Lion Air who beat a hotel clerk because he was unhappy with how his uniform was ironed has been grounded, the airline said on Friday (May 3).

Closed-circuit television footage posted to Facebook and since viewed over one million times shows the unhappy pilot walk behind the reception desk, where he appears to complain about his shirt before striking the employee in the head several times.

He is eventually led away by another man.

The budget airline said the pilot was suspended following the April 30 incident at a hotel in the city of Surabaya.

"Currently, Lion Air is gathering data and other information needed for an investigation," company spokesman Danang Mandala Prihantoro said in a statement.

"If the pilot is found guilty after the investigation, Lion Air will apply firm sanctions by dismissing him from the company."

The video is the latest piece of bad publicity for South-east Asia's biggest airline, which has long suffered from a spotty safety record and an avalanche of complaints over shoddy service.

Last year, a nearly new Lion Air Boeing 737 Max jet slammed into the sea shortly after take-off from the capital Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.