NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued another show cause notice to Air India, this time for not reporting two incidents of passenger misbehaviour that occurred aboard its December 6 Paris-Delhi flight.
While the crew members of the flight caught a drunken passenger smoking in the plane’s lavatory, another flier peed on a fellow passenger’s blanket. “Air India didn’t report the incidents until the DGCA sought the incident report from them. After perusal of the reply... it emerges that provisions related to the 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.
It asked the airline why enforcement action should not be taken against it for dereliction of its regulatory obligations. Air India has been given two weeks to submit is reply. The DGCA said airlines must report unruly passenger behaviours within 12 hours of the flight’s landing.
“The airline is also supposed to refer the incident to an internal committee constituting three members a retired district or sessions judge as chairman, a representative from another scheduled airline and a representative from a passenger association or consumer association or a retired officer of the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum as members,” the regulator said.
The panel can decide the duration of the offender’s flight ban within 30 days. Till then, the airline can impose its own one-month ban. After the panel takes the call, the airline should share it with the DGCA. It should also maintain a database of all unruly passengers.