After Gaikwad-Air India row, Government issues no-fly list with 3 to 6 months of ban for unruly behaviour

After the incident of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad's unruly behaviour with an Air India staff in March, the Civil Aviation Ministry today has proposed a national no-fly list of the passengers, who behave unruly during journey.

Civil Aviation Secretary RN Choubey said, "We propose to bring out a national no fly list. It is better to do that by a central mechanism under DGCA than leave it to airlines."

To put a ban on the bad behavior on board, the government said any passenger using abusive language against any airline staff or co-passengers will be barred from flying for three months.

Choubey further categorised unruly behaviour under three types which would be dealt with accordingly.

The three level set of offences is as follows:

Level 1- Disruptive behaviour such as physical gestures for which a passenger will be handed out a suspension of three months.
Level 2- Physically abusive behaviour and sexual harassment for which suspension from flying will be for six months
Level 3 - Murderous assault or life-threatening behaviour, damage to aircraft operating systems for which suspension will be for 2 years or more.

However, Choubey said it would possible for the government to come up with the finalisation of the amendment by June 30.

Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha had earlier said that the no-fly list would include both safety and security concerns. "Safety concerns emanate when there are passengers that exhibit unruly behaviour," Sinha said.

In March, Shiv Sena MP, Ravindra Gaikwad, who was flying on an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi, hit the airline's duty manager Sukumar with his slipper 25 times when the latter urged him to deplane .

Gaikwad, carrying a business class ticket, insisted on taking the airline's early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy class. This led to an argument with the airline employees in Pune and an assault on the manager by the MP when the aircraft landed in Delhi.

In recent times, there have been reported incidents of unruly behaviour by fliers onboard various airlines.
According to officials, between July 2016 and February 2017, 53 incidents of unruly behaviour by passengers have been reported by domestic airlines.

Global aviation body International Air Transport Association (IATA) had earlier said "unruly passengers" are one of the top three safety issues that concern cabin crew.

In 2015, there were 10,854 reported cases of unruly behaviour by passengers across airlines worldwide, which translate into one incident for every 1,205 flights, according to IATA.

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