AI TO FINE ‘UNRULY PASSENGERS’ UP TO ₹15 LAKH

NEW DELHI : Looking for ways to tackle unruly passengers, Air India has drawn up a standard operating procedure under which it plans to impose a fine of up to 15 lakh for causing a delay beyond 2 hours. The move come weeks after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad created a ruckus on board an Air India flight. The Air India notification says that these incidents had hit the morale of the crew and needed to be controlled. The circular listed a six-step procedure in case a similar situation arises.

NEW DELHI: Looking for ways to tackle unruly passengers, Air India has drawn up a standard operating procedure under which it plans to impose a fine of up to ₹15 lakh on passengers who cause a delay of more than two hours.

The move come weeks after Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad created ruckus on board an Air India flight and assaulted a manager, causing a flight delay of 90 minutes, the Air India notification says. It also lists the incident involving Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen, who had got into an argument with the flight crew causing a 39-minute delay.

The Air India notification says that these incidents had hit the morale of the crew and needed to be controlled. The circular listed a six-step procedure in case a similar situation arises in the future.

The procedure includes informing the airport manager, no direct interaction with the media, immediate FIR , and assessment of damage, and fines to be imposed as per the delay.

For a delay of up to one hour, the fine is ₹5 lakh; for delay between one and two hours, the fine is ₹10 lakhs; for a delay beyond two hours, it is ₹15 lakh.

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was put on a ‘no-fly’ list by Air India and five other airlines on March 23 . The MP was forced to travel by train after his ticket was cancelled multiple times by both Air India and Indigo. He finally allowed to fly after he apologised following a ruckus in Parliament in his support.