New Delhi: Aviation watchdog DGCA has proposed stricter norms to deal with unruly passengers, including allowing airlines to directly impose a flying ban on such passengers for up to 30 days.
A ‘No Zero Tolerance Policy’ has been adopted to ensure the safety of the aircraftpersonsproperty and to maintain good order & discipline on board an aircraft, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in its draft revised rules.
Among other proposals, the regulator has mentioned that an airline shall formulate and implement a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the handling of unruly passengers and for reporting the incidents to the DGCA, and shall circulate the same among all concerned stakeholders.
An independent committee set up by the airline that will include a representative from another carrier, among others, will make a decision on the flying ban.
… an airline may directly impose a flying ban for a disruptive passenger for a period not exceeding thirty days (30) days without referring the matter to the Independent Committee, where the passenger is found to have committed any of the following disruptive acts on board an aircraft, the regulator said.
Such an action can be taken by an airline for various violations, including smoking on board the aircraft, consumption of alcohol onboard a domestic flight and misuse of an emergency exit or unauthorised use of life-saving equipment, including life jackets.
Under the existing Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR), pending the decision of the independent committee, the concerned airline may ban such an unruly passenger from flying for up to 45 days.
This provision also remains in the proposed revised CAR for handling unruly passengers.
Unruly passengers can face varying periods of flying ban depending on the level of offences. For Level 1, the ban can be up to three months and for Level 2, the same can be up to six months. In the case of Level 3 and 4 cases, the minimum ban can be for two years or more without a limit.
While Leve1 refers to unruly behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment or unruly inebriation. Level 2 refers to physically abusive behaviour, including pushing, kicking, hitting, grabbing or inappropriate touching or sexual harassment.
Level 3 refers to life-threatening behaviour (damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence such as choking, eye gouging, murderous assault, etc.) and Level 4 refers to attempted or actual breach of the flight crew compartment, as per DGCA.
Also, persons are banned from flying on the grounds of national security risk.
Stakeholder comments on the changes to the CAR have been sought till March 16.