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4 passengers deboarded from Alliance Air flight for not heeding Covid-19 protocols
The government on Saturday directed airport authorities and airlines to take strict action against those not complying with Covid-19 protocols at airports and inside planes. Those found flouting rules may be offloaded and handed over to security agencies, the DGCA said.
In a first, four passengers on board Alliance Air flight 91 614 from Jammu to New Delhi on Tuesday were deboarded for not following Covid-19 protocols inside the flight, according to Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The passengers were charged as ‘unruly/disruptive passengers’ and handed over to security agencies at Delhi Airport.
“It was observed during Alliance Air flight 91 614 from Jammu to Delhi on 16 March 2021 that four (04) passengers … were not wearing their masks. Repeated instruction requests were made by the crew including the Pilot In Command through PA system. They were not following the Covid-19 related protocols irrespective of repeated instructions,” the airline said in its communication to the DGCA on Wednesday. “These four passengers were treated as unruly passengers as per CAR Section 3 Series M Part VI and all the recommended procedures were followed by the crew. All the four unruly passengers were handed over to security agencies on arrival at Delhi Airport,” it added.
This is the first such instance following DGCA’s order issued last week directing airport authorities and airlines to take strict action against those not complying with Covid-19 protocols at airports and inside planes.
The government on Saturday directed airport authorities and airlines to take strict action against those not complying with Covid-19 protocols at airports and inside planes. Those found flouting rules may be offloaded and handed over to security agencies, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said. “The Airport Director/Terminal Manager, as applicable, must ensure that passengers are wearing masks properly and do maintain social distance at all times within the Airport premises. In case, any passenger is not following “Covid-19 Protocol”, they should be handed over to security agencies after proper warnings. If required, they may be dealt as per law,” the DGCA said in an order issued on Saturday.
This also comes days after the Delhi high court issued a set of guidelines that empower airline crew to offload any passenger not wearing their mask properly and to be put on the no-fly list if they exhibit “stubborn reluctance”. The judge had taken note of the callous attitude of passengers at airports and passed directions to the DGCA.
“Alliance Air briefs passengers at every touch point, makes regular in-flight announcements. However, on constant request, when the passengers did not adhere to the laid down guidelines and could have endangered other fellow passengers, we apprised the concerned authorities,” the airline said in a statement on Wednesday.
On Wednesday the DGCA also informed the Delhi High Court that action is being taken against passengers not wearing masks properly despite repeated warnings and they will be de-boarded from planes before departure and treated as “unruly passengers”.
