DGCA issues circular to airlines on handling unruly passengers amid COVID-19

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New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Wednesday (June 24) issued a new circular for airlines and their cabin crew members for handling unruly passengers on board amid the COVID-19 times.

DGCA said that due to the operations in COVID-19 environment, there may be increased stress on the flyers due to new procedures in place that may lead to a rise in disputes between the passengers and cabin crew members.

"An increase in cases of unruly or disruptive passengers should be expected, either prior to departure or in-flight," said DGCA in its official cabin safety circular. 

"Such behaviour, in the context of pressures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, may be less aggressive or intrusive than the normally exhibited unruly behaviour, hence extra attention and steps need to be devoted for the prevention and management of unruly passengers," it noted. 

DGCA said for identification, prevention and management of unruly passengers in the context of COVID-19, operators should develop in-flight procedures to manage such situations and develop associated training procedures to train and sensitise the cabin crew.

They stated that the cabin crew members must be made aware of new issues that may be faced on-boarding like:

- Passengers refusing to continue wearing a face mask or coverings in flights.

- Increase of disputes between passengers due to their ethnicity or country of residence.

- Increased stresses imposed on passengers through airport processes and the overall travel experience may trigger exceptional responses inflight to disputes or requests for compliance.

- Impact of distancing and health screening of passengers through airports which may slow the passenger transit and increase the likelihood of missed connections.

- Fear of infection which may cause more disputes between passengers due to non-compliance or poor hygiene etiquette or the presence of symptoms similar to those associated with COVID-19.

DGCA said that the handling of on-board unruly passenger should include a reiteration of the enforcement mechanism of the operator and the operators should develop inflight cabin crew training procedures to ensure passengers adhere to the health and safety guidelines like wearing face masks and protective gear at all times on board and maintain high levels of hygiene.

"The operators should define SOP for on-board handling of unruly passengers in COVID-19 environment," read DGCA's circular.

The airlines' regulator told the airlines to communicate their policy on handling unruly passengers as widely as possible, including on its website, during ticket purchase, check-in process, etc.