‘Misbehaving’ passengers may land in ‘no-fly list’

From today a passenger misbehaving or indulging in any misdemeanour in an aircraft in India could be banned from flying for 3 months to two years or more.

This forms part of the new National No Fly List which was unveiled by Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju here on Friday. The revised Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on Unruly Behaviour which seeks to ban passengers for varying periods of time comes into effect from today.

Raju, along with Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation and senior officials of the Ministry, declined to specify whether a passenger being prosecuted under the revised CAR can be banned from flying for life.

The revised CAR will address unruly passenger behaviour on board an aircraft and is applicable for all Indian operators engaged in scheduled and non-scheduled air services.

The revised CAR defines three categories of unruly behaviour ----

Level 1 : unruly verbal behaviour under which a passenger found guilt can be banned for flying for up to three months.

Level 2 : offences will relate to physical behaviour and a passenger being prosecuted under this offence can be banned from taking to the skies for up to six months.

Level 3 : If a passenger’s behaviour is considered life threatening like affecting the safety of the aircraft then he or she can be banned for up to two years or more.

Unruly behaviour will be probed by an internal committee set up by every domestic airline under the chairmanship of a retired District and Sessions judge. Its members will be from different scheduled airlines and passenger associations, consumer associations and retired officials of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum.

The revised CAR proposes that an internal committee will have to decide the matter of offence committed by a passenger within 30 days along with the duration of the ban. In case the Internal Committee fails to come to a decision in 30 days then the passenger will be free to fly.

Appeal mechanism

The new CAR also has an appeal mechanism which provides an aggrieved person the provision to appeal within 60 days of the order to an appellate committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This so-called No Fly List has been brought out keeping in mind the safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft and is based on a security threat perception, the Union Civil Aviation Minister said. Interestingly one airline will not be bound by the no-fly list of another domestic airline. A passenger cannot circumvent the domestic fly ban by flying to a nearby foreign country and then flying to the original destination in India. For example, a passenger on the banned list wanting to fly from Delhi to Chennai will not be able to reach ay Colombo from Delhi and then fly from Colombo to Chennai.

Unruly behaviour of passengers in airport premises will be dealt with by the relevant security agencies, DGCA officials said.

The list of unruly passengers will be provided by the airlines to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and will be available on the website of the airline regulator.

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