Unruly and disruptive behaviour by domestic air passengers could invite a flying ban of minimum three months and up to an indefinite period from July 1. The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Friday unveiled draft rules for a “national no-fly list” of such passengers. These are open for public discussion for a month and the final rules will be released by June-end.
The no-fly list will be maintained by the safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The move follows the recent incident involving Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who allegedly assaulted an Air India staffer on board an aircraft at Delhi airport. The government has defined three levels of unruly behaviour. A person identified as a threat by security agencies will also be included in this list.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha, said India will be the first country to have a national no-fly list based on safety. Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey said the no-fly list will be created with an appropriate oversight and give passengers the right to appeal before they are put on such a list. The three levels of unruly/disruptive behaviour, each with a corresponding duration of flying ban, are:
* Level 1 misdemeanour includes disruptive behaviour such as physical gestures, verbal harassment and unruly behaviour because of inebriation. This level of offence will carry a flying ban of three months.
* Level 2 comprises physically abusive behaviour such as pushing, hitting, grabbing, inappropriate touching or sexual harassment. This carries a ban of six months.
* Level 3 consists of life-threatening behaviour such as damage to aircraft operating system, physical violence such as choking or murderous assault and attempted breach of flight crew compartment. This will carry a flying ban of two years or more without limit.
If a passenger repeats the same degree of offence he/she will be banned for twice the period of the previous ban.
While the no-fly list is applicable only to domestic carriers, international airlines are free to use the list as per their right of carriage policies, Choubey said. The government is also examining ways to track passengers recognised as unruly through an identity document. Jayant Sinha said: “We will be identifying passengers on the basis of identity verification, either through an Aadhaar card or passport. This will ensure that we have a secure way of identifying a passenger and linking their secure authentication to their PNR.”
