The shocking episode of Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad thrashing an Air India employee and the alleged drunken brawl involving TV star Kapil Sharma may be just the trigger that India needed to draw up an official no-fly list.
The Economic Times reports that the Centre may soon act upon its plan that grades unruly acts committed by flyers and accordingly block them from flying, briefly or for months, even years.
Which actions are most likely to land a passenger in the blacklisted flyers' list?
1. Boarding drunk or getting drunk on a flight
2. Smoking in an aircraft
3. Defying orders of the pilot/captain of the flight
4, Getting into a verbal or physical brawl with a co-passenger
5. Insulting, threatening or scuffling with members of the crew
But how will airlines identify a blacklisted flyer?
That won't be too difficult. On bookings for the domestic circuit, the airline asks for the passenger's PAN number, Aadhaar card, passport or driving licence. These will be linked to his PNR. The next time he or she tries to book a plane ticket and these numbers reflect on the airline's data, the blacklisted passenger will be easily identified.
And when it comes to international flights, the passport and visa will help identify a barred flyer.
What about other nations? Do they have no-fly lists?
India is pretty late to the 'no-fly list' party, in fact. In UK, every airline maintains its own list. The US drew up a common one after the 9/11 attacks.
In its latest report, Sydney-based aviation think tank, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, (CAPA) says India has become the third largest aviation market in terms of domestic passenger traffic, beating Japan.
India's domestic air passenger traffic stood at 100 million in 2016 and was behind only the US (719 million) and China (436 million). And we don't have a no-fly list. Wither air safety?
Video Editor: Purnendu Pritam
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