Amid a spate of instances of unruly behaviour by passengers on flights, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an advisory to airlines, saying such incidents have the potential of compromising the safety of aircraft operations. In a communication on Monday, April 10, the DGCA advised the heads of operations of all airlines to sensitise their pilots, cabin crew and post holders on handling of unruly passengers through appropriate means.
The advisory issued on Monday said that there are provisions under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for action to be taken by the airline to deal with unruly passengers and the responsibilities of pilots, cabin crew members and the director of inflight services are also mentioned in the CAR.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has noticed a few incidents such as smoking in aircrafts, consumption of alcoholic beverages resulting in unruly behaviour, altercations between passengers and sometimes inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment by the passengers during the flight, wherein post holders, pilots and cabin crew members have failed to take appropriate actions. Airlines shall categorise all such unruly passenger behaviour into three levels and such people can face a flying ban for varying periods, the advisory states.
Unruly behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly inebriation are classified as Level 1, while physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking or sexual harassment will be classified as Level 2. Besides, life threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating systems, physical violence like choking and murderous assault will be considered as Level 3.
An internal committee set up by the airline concerned can decide on the duration for which an unruly passenger can be banned from flying.