AI mulling preparing a no-fly list for unruly passengers

Air India

Air India is mulling preparing a no-fly list for unruly passengers following an incident today at the IGI airport here in which a Shiv Sena MP allegedly assaulted a 60-year-old airline staffer with slippers.

"Air India is examining creation of no-fly list of unruly passenger on the lines of other carriers," a senior airline official said.

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, who was flying on an Air India flight from Pune to Delhi, hit the airline's duty manager Sukumar with his slipper several times when the latter urged him to deplane after the lawmaker refused to do so once the plane landed at Delhi airport.

"The MP turned violent, broke the duty manager's spectacles, tore his shirt and hit him with slippers several times," airline sources said.

Gaikwad, carrying a business class ticket, insisted on taking the airline's early morning flight AI-852 from Pune to Delhi, which is an all-economy class. This led to an argument with the airline employees in Pune and an assault on the manager by the MP when the aircraft landed in Delhi.

There have been several reported incidents of unruly behaviour by the fliers onboard various airlines in the recent times.

Last month, AirAsia India filed a police complaint in Bangalore against two drunk fliers for creating "nuisance" onboard one of its flights.

In January, IndiGo was forced to tie down a passenger to his seat for being violent onboard one of its flight from Dubai for New Delhi.

According to the officials, between July 2016 and February 2017, 53 incidents of unruly behaviour by the passengers have been reported by the domestic airlines.

According to the global aviation body, International Air Transport Association (IATA), "unruly passengers" are one of the top three safety issues that concern cabin crew.

As per the IATA, in 2015, there were 10,854 reported cases of unruly behaviour by the passengers across airlines worldwide, which translate into one incident for every 1,205 flights.