Govt issues draft rules, proposes a national 'no fly list' for all airlines

An unruly passenger may land in a National No-Fly List for three months to two years or more for offences ranging from verbal abuse to murderous assault with the Government on Friday unveiling a draft rule to deal with such fliers. The Ministry of Civil Aviation's (MoCA) move to amend the existing Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on 'Handling Unruly/Disruptive Passengers' came following the incident involving Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who repeatedly slapped an Air India manager last month.

The draft rules proposes graded punishment for offences which are categorised into three levels. One may end up in the no-fly list for three months if the passenger is found of violating Level 1 offences like disruptive behaviour, physical gesture and verbal abuse. The airline will have an option to ban a flier for six months for Level 2 offences like physically abusive behaviour like pushing, kicking and sexual harassment. The flier may end in the list for two or more years if he commits a Level 3 offence which is categorised as life-threatening like murderous assault, choking and damaging aircraft operating system among others.

For repeat offenders, the person will be banned for twice the period of previous ban. “These provisions are airline specific. An airline can ban a passenger but others can continue to fly the passenger if they desire so,” Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey told reporters in the presence of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and his deputy Jayant Sinha. “We have put this in public domain and stakeholders have one month time to present their views,” Raju said. Sinha said the identification of the passenger could be done through Aadhaar, passport or any other document specified by making them provide these details at the time of booking the ticket.

The no-fly list would also consists of persons identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as national security threats. To ensure balance in action, the draft provides for a two-tier complaint handling mechanism. Whenever a complaint is received from the crew, the concerned airline have to refer it to a quasi-judicial committee headed by a retired district and sessions judge with a representative each of another airline and passenger association.

"This panel has to take a decision within ten days. If any party is aggrieved with the decision, then they approach a government-appointed panel headed by a retired High Court judge, representative of airline who is not below the rank of Vice President and representative of passenger association or consumer forum,” Choubey said. He said the airline can immediately suspend the flier but that cannot go beyond 10 days as the panel has to take a call within that limit. Asked whether the no-fly list is for domestic carriers, he said if international carriers want to use this input, they can use it. This is for the first time in the history of civil aviation that a no-fly list is being proposed to address concerns of the safety. “No other country has a no-fly list based on safety. Some countries have such lists based on security,” Sinha said.