The Civil Aviation Ministry has introduced a national no-fly list of the passengers. The adoption of this rule will hamper the wrongdoers who behave in an uncivil manner on flights.
RN Choubey, Civil Aviation Secretary 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.” Choubey also added that the list will be categorized into 3 types, i.e. there can be three types of unruly behaviour.
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.
By June 30, it is possible for us to come up with the finalisation of the amendment, Choubey hinted.
As per the IATA, there were 10,854 reported cases of unruly behaviour by the passengers in 2015. This is a data which was tabulated for all flights operating in the country. This, in other words, means that for every 1205 flights, there is one such unruly person.
As one thing leads to another, this amendment came as a result of an unconstitutional incident which happened not a few months ago. Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who had entered into a brawl with a flight staff created news for over a month. Gaikwad assaulted an Air India staffer, tattered his clothes, broke his glasses and hurled a shoe at him. On being asked to accept his mistake and apologise, Gaikwad even denied to apologise and admit that he was wrong. His unconstitutional demeanour on the flight instigated the Aviation department officials to take considerable steps for eliminating such acts in the future. They disrupt the whole atmosphere of the flight and only creates havoc for everybody.
Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said, “In Gaikwad case there was deficiency in the existing rules. That is why these amendments were proposed.”
“India will be the first country in the world to have a national no-fly list based on safety,” Jayant Sinha added.
The Civil Aviation Ministry has set up a committee to frame the final draft of the new set of rules. Not only this, a time frame of one month will be open for the public to comment.
