`No Fly list’ to check unruly behaviour of passengers on aircrafts

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Ministry of Civil Aviation on September 8, 2017, unveiled rules to tackle on-board disruptive and unruly behaviour by passengers. Briefing the media in New Delhi, the Minister for Civil Aviation P Ashok Gajapathi Raju said that the new rules will allow for the formation of a national `No Fly List' of such unruly passengers. He said the start of the `No – Fly List’ in India is unique and first-of-its-kind in the world.

Reiterating the government’s commitment for ensuring safety, Raju said that the concept of the `No-Fly List’ is based on the concern for safety of passengers, crew and the aircraft, and not just on security threat.
The DGCA has revised the relevant sections of the Civil Aviation Requirement ( CAR Section 3, Series M, Part Vl on “Handling of Unruly Passengers ) to bring in a deterrent for passengers who engage in unruly behaviour on board aircrafts, according to a PIB release. The revision has been done in accordance with the provisions of Tokyo Convention 1963.
The revised CAR deals with unruly behavior of passenger on-board aircrafts. Unruly behavior of passengers on airport premises will be dealt with by relevant security agencies under applicable penal provisions. The revised CAR will be applicable for all Indian operators engaged in scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, both domestic and international carriage of passengers. The CAR would also be applicable to foreign carriers subject to compliance of Tokyo Convention 1963.
The revised CAR defines three categories of unruly behavior – Level 1 refers to behaviour that is verbally unruly, and calls for debarment upto 3 months, Level 2 indicates physical unruliness and can lead to the passenger being debarred from flying for upto 6 months and Level 3 indicates life-threatening behaviour where the debarment would be for a minimum of 2 years, according to the PIB release. The complaint of unruly behavior would need to be filed by the pilot-in-command.