Air India looks to impose fine of Rs 15 lakh on unruly passengers

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. Gaikwad had allegedly assaulted an Air India manager and caused a flight delay by 90 minutes, the airline notification says. It also lists the incident of another MP Dola Sen of Trinamool Congress, who had got into an argument with the flight crew, causing a delay of 39 minutes.

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.

These include 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 Rs 5 lakh; for delay between one and two hours, the fine is Rs 10 lakhs; for a delay beyond two hours, the fine is Rs 15 lakh.

Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was put on ‘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 was finally allowed to fly after he apologized following a ruckus in Parliament in his support.