MUMBAI: Incidents of passenger misbehaviour, such as passenger smoking in a lavatory or a passenger urinating in an aircraft cabin should be reported by the airline concerned to the aviation regulator and not doing so could lead to a financial penalty.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Air India for not reporting such an incident that occured onboard its December 6 Paris to Delhi flight.
Last week, the DGCA had imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for the November 26 incident onboard its New York to Delhi flight in which an intoxicated male passenger allegedly urinated on a female passenger, an elderly woman seated in the business class seat.
"Enforcement action in the form of financial penalty of Rs. 10 lakh has been imposed on Air India for not reporting the incident to DGCA and delaying in referring the matter to its Internal Committee, which is a violation of applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements," said a statement issued by the DGCA on Tuesday.
"The incident of passenger misbehavior which occurred on AI-142 flight came to the notice of DGCA wherein one passenger was caught smoking in the lavatory, was drunk and not adhering to the crew instructions; and another passenger allegedly relieved himself on a vacant seat and blanket of fellow female passenger when she went to lavatory," the note said. "Accordingly, DGCA issued Show Cause notice to the accountable manager of Air India as to why enforcement action should not be taken against them for dereliction of their regulatory obligations. Air India submitted a reply to the show cause notice on January 23 and the same was examined," it added.
