After the November 26 peeing incident, Air India is yet again in the dock for not reporting two cases of unruly behaviour by passengers on flight AI-142 from Paris to New Delhi on December 6, 2022.
In the first incident, a drunk passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory. In a second incident on the same flight, another passenger allegedly urinated on a vacant seat and on blanket of a fellow female passenger when she went to the lavatory. The media has already reported the second incident. But Air India didn’t report both incidents until the DGCA sought the report from the airline on January 05, 2023.
The DGCA has issued a show cause notice to the “accountable” manager of Air India why action should not be taken against them for “dereliction of their regulatory obligations”.
This comes after the shocking incident on an Air India New York- Delhi flight on November 26, when a drunk passenger urinated on a woman passenger.
“Air India didn’t report the incident until DGCA sought the report from them on 05.01.2023. After perusal of the reply submitted by Air India through email dated 06.01.2023, prima facie it emerges that provisions related to handling of an unruly passenger have not been complied with. It has been noted that the response of the airline has been lackadaisical and delayed,” the DGCA said in a statement.
“However, to follow the principles of natural justice, they have been given two weeks time to submit their reply to DGCA and based on that further action will be taken,” it said.
As per the regulations, the concerned airline is responsible for informing the DGCA within 12 hours of landing of the aircraft in case of any incident of unruly passengers/passenger rage/passenger misconduct reported in their flight. Further, the concerned airline shall refer the incident to the internal committee consisting of retired district and sessions judge as chairman, a representative from a different scheduled airline as member, and representative from a passengers association or consumer association of retired officers of consumer dispute redressal forum as member.
According to the DGCA, the Internal Committee shall decide the duration of ban for flying of the unruly passenger within 30 days and it can extend from zero day to lifetime ban. During the pendency of the decision by the Internal Committee, the concerned airline may ban such unruly passengers from flying for a period not exceeding 30 days.
After the decision of the Internal Committee, the airline shall maintain a database of all such unruly passengers and inform the same to DGCA who is the custodian for maintaining the “No-Fly List”. It may be noted that the period for which an unruly passenger can be put on “No-Fly List” is the sole decision of the internal committee of the concerned airline.