DGCA proposes tougher new rules to tackle unruly flyers

New Delhi: Civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), in a draft made public on Wednesday, proposed changes that revise the regulatory framework for dealing with unruly flyers and also disruptive ones (a new category it creates), sharpening enforcement, widening the scope of punishable acts, and revising the penalty architecture.

It has also proposed a faster mechanism that allows airlines to directly impose short term flying bans of up to 30 days on disruptive flyers. The draft was placed in the public domain on Wednesday for stakeholder comments till March 16 and comes against the backdrop of a surge in incidents involving unruly passengers.