The Government plans to tweak the norms to deal with unruly fliers as it looks to provide more clarity on regulatory powers amid debate on airlines barring an MP from flying for assaulting an Air India staff. While aviation regulator DGCA has guidelines in place to deal with unruly passengers, there is no specific mention about the possibility of barring any individual from flying for disruptive behaviour.
A senior Civil Aviation Ministry official said the current Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) on ‘Handling of unruly/ disruptive passengers’ has “some gaps” which needs to be plugged.
The Ministry will work towards making some changes in the CAR, which was issued back in November 2014. The revised norms would provide more clarity on preventive measures that can be initiated against any unruly passenger, the official said. The 2014 CAR mentions that “every reasonable effort to protect passengers and personnel against any offence by unruly and disruptive passengers shall be made.”