4 removed from flight for flouting Covid-19 norms

Four on a flight from Jammu to New Delhi on Tuesday were deboarded after being charged as ‘disruptive’

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said on Wednesday four people onboard a flight from Jammu to New Delhi were deboarded for not following Covid-19 protocol, the first such incident to penalise people who don’t adhere to norms amid a surge in infections in the country.

Travellers queue while maintaining social distancing at an entry gate at Terminal T2 of Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport which resumes operations from today in New Delhi. (Vipin Kumar/ Hindustan Times)

Four passengers on board Alliance Air flight 91 614 from Jammu to New Delhi on Tuesday were deboarded after being charged as “unruly/disruptive passengers” and handed over to security agencies at the Delhi airport, the aviation regulator said.

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 could be offloaded and handed over to security agencies, DGCA said on Saturday.

“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 Instructions 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 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 came days after the Delhi high court issued a set of guidelines that empower airline crew to offload any passenger not wearing masks properly and to put them on the no-fly list if they exhibit “stubborn reluctance”.

The judge took note of the callous attitude of passengers at airports and passed directions to 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, 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”.

DGCA, represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Chetan Sharma, told a bench of justice Navin Chawla and justice C Hari Shankar that it has also take action against four passengers on the Jammu to Delhi flight on March 16 and declared them “unruly” for not wearing masks.

The passengers were handed over to the security officials and action would be initiated against them under the civil aviation requirements (CAR), advocate Anjana Gosain, the central government’s standing counsel (CGSC), said.

The court was hearing a plea it initiated after justice Hari Shankar, while travelling on a flight from Kolkata on March 5, observed that the passengers were not wearing masks properly and defied the repeated requests made by the judge himself.

DGCA told the court that it issued a circular on March 13 relating to strict guidelines to be followed in the airports.

“In case any passenger on board an aircraft refuses to wear mask or violates the ‘COVID-19 Protocol for passengers’ even after repeated warnings, during the course of the fight, such passenger may be treated as ‘Unruly Passenger’ as defined... Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR)...and the procedure in respect of handling such unruly passenger, as provided in above mentioned CAR, shall be followed by the concerned airlines,” it said adding that surprise checks are also being conducted.

The bench, after noting the submissions of the counsels, said that proactive steps have been taken by the authorities while noting that the initiation of punitive action against the violators is a welcome step.

India’s daily infection tally on Wednesday touched 35,836 – the highest single-day case increase in the country in over a 100 days, or since December 5, clearly underlining the rising second wave of infections.

Delhi also continued its trend of rising infections as the city reported 536 new cases on Wednesday, the highest daily infections since January 6.