Fifteen passengers, who were found violating COVID-19 norms on domestic flights of three airlines this month, may be banned for three months by the carriers, senior officials of aviation regulator DGCA said on Wednesday.
The DGCA had on March 13 asked airlines to de-board passengers who do not wear their masks "properly" despite repeated warnings and take action against them as per its rules.
The regulator allows carriers to ban passengers (putting them on the no-fly list) for three to 24 months for not following the rules.
Senior DGCA officials said nine passengers of IndiGo, four of Alliance Air and two passengers of AirAsia India were found violating COVID-19 norms between March 15 and March 23.
While most of these passengers refused to wear masks onboard the flights, others refused to put on PPE gowns that are compulsory for those sitting in middle seats, they added.
The officials said the three airlines may put these 15 passengers on their no-fly list for a period of three months.
Earlier this month, AirAsia India offloaded two middle seat passengers from its Goa-Mumbai flight, while IndiGo handed over two flyers to security officials for not following the COVID-19 rules in flights. Four passengers were handed over to security agencies for not wearing masks properly onboard Alliance Air's Jammu-Delhi flight despite repeated warnings by the cabin crew.
The government officials had said that a middle seat passenger on IndiGo's Delhi-Goa flight first created fuss on the issue of wearing a PPE gown, and then she kept taking off her mask during the flight even after repeated warnings by the cabin crew. On IndiGo's Delhi-Hyderabad flight, a passenger refused to wear a mask even after repeated warnings by the crew members. AirAsia India offloaded two middle seat passengers from Goa-Mumbai flight on Monday for not wearing PPE gowns before take off.