New Delhi: Aviation regulator DGCA on Monday issued an advisory to airlines reiterating the existing provisions in place to deal with unruly passengers. The advisory comes against the backdrop of rising incidents of unruly passengers onboard flights and also on a day when a male passenger was deboarded by Air India from a Delhi-London flight for causing physical harm to two cabin crew members.
In an advisory, DGCA said there are provisions under the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for action to be taken by the airline to deal with unruly passengers. Besides, it said the responsibilities of pilots, cabin crew members and the director of inflight services are also mentioned in the CAR. DGCA said that in the recent past, it has noticed a few incidents such as smoking in aircraft, consumption of alcoholic beverages resulting in unruly behaviour, altercations between passengers and sometimes inappropriate touching or sexual harassment by the passengers onboard an aircraft during the flight, wherein "post holders, pilots and cabin crew members have failed to take appropriate actions".
"Such incidents have potential of compromising the safety of aircraft operations," the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. The watchdog has advised the heads of operations of all airlines to sensitise their pilots, cabin crew and post holders on handling of unruly passengers through appropriate means. The measures can be "but not limited to training programme for ensuring effective monitoring, maintenance of good order and discipline on board the aircraft so that safety of aircraft operations is not jeopardised in any manner," the advisory said.