Govt issues rules for no-fly list

New Delhi, Sep 8: Unruly fliers will land in a national no-fly list from now on that can extend upto life time for offences ranging from verbal abuse to life threatening behaviour.

The government on Friday unveiled the changes made to Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) to enable the country to promulgate the national no-fly list, which it said is "unique and first of its kind in the world".

The new rules provide graded punishment for offences which are categorised into three levels. One will end up in the no-fly list for upto three months if the passenger is found of violating Level 1 (unruly behaviour - verbal) offences like disruptive behaviour, physical gesture and verbal abuse.

A flier who commits a Level 2 offence (physical behaviour) will be banned for up to six months. The offender will end up in the list for "two or more years without limit" if he commits a Level 3 offence which is categorised as life-threatening behaviour 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

The amendments to the existing CAR on 'Handling Unruly/Disruptive Passengers' came following the incident involving Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad who repeatedly slapped an Air India manager in April.

"The no-fly list provisions are applicable to every passenger. There are no exemptions," Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju told reporters. The provisions of the CAR came into existence on Friday itself, which also said, "sale of tickets inadvertently to such person(s) shall not confer a right upon them to fly."

The complaint of unruly behaviour should be referred to an internal committee set up by the airline have headed by a retired district and sessions judge with a representative each of another airline and passenger association. This panel should decide the matter in 30 days and till such time, airline can impose ban on passenger from flying for 30 days. In case the committee fails to take a decision in 30 days, passenger will be free to fly.

If any party is aggrieved with the decision, they can 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. (ENDS)

Unruly behaviour

Level 1: Unruly behaviour (verbal)
Level 2: Physically behaviour
Level 3: Life-threatening behaviour

Flying ban

Level 1 offences: upto 3 months
Level 2 offences: upto six months
Level 3 offences: minimum 2 years or more without limit
** Persons barred by MHA: such time that the person is perceived to be national security risk

** Sale of ticket by mistake to such a person shall not confer a right upon him to fly.