Stepping up action against unruly passengers, the Civil Aviation Ministry on Friday issued categories for airlines to create a 'No Fly' list, and a ban on those named ranging from three months to two years.
"India is the first country to put out such a list. The No Fly list is to ensure safety and check disruptions. It will safeguard the interests of passengers, airlines and cabin crew," Union Minister Jayant Sinha told reporters in New Delhi at a press briefing.
For every subsequent offence, the ban will be twice the period of the previous ban. The other airlines will however not be bound by the No Fly list of an airline.
Three categories define unruly behaviour - Level 1 - unruly behaviour (verbal), Level 2 - physical behaviour and Level 3 - life-threatening behaviour.
"Such unruly behaviour will be probed through an internal committee set up by the airline under the chairmanship of a retired district and sessions judge and members from different scheduled airlines and passengers' association/consumer association/retired officer of Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum," a statement from the Civil Aviation Ministry said.
The internal committee will have to decide the matter within 30 days along with duration of ban on an unruly passenger, and during that period the airline concerned may impose a ban on the passenger.
The 'No Fly List' of such unruly passengers will be provided by the airlines and will be available on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website.
"No Fly List will have two components - unruly passengers banned for a period varying from three months to more than two years based upon level of unruly behaviour, and those persons perceived to be national security risk by the Ministry of Home Affairs," it said.