DGCA confirms passengers involved in Thai airline brawl may get away lightly, call to check unruly behaviour grows

The now viral visual of a brawl inside Thai Smile Airways, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thai Airways International, may not result in any action being initiated against those involved. Since the incident happened on a foreign registered aircraft, the Indian regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has no power or oversight in the matter under the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation inked in 1944.

“Thai Smile Airways is a foreign operator and it is a foreign registered aircraft, with the place of occurrence as Bangkok,” DGCA Arun Kumar told Business Today, adding, “We are governed by the Chicago Convention on aviation and we have to respect that.”

Under Article 1 of the Chicago Convention, each state has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory. This technical point has, however, not deterred many from seeking some form of disciplinary action against those involved in the brawl.

The mid-air scuffle took place after one of the passengers declined to adjust his reclined seat to the upright position as part of the standard safety procedure citing a backache during take-off from Bangkok on Thai Smile Airways’ Bangkok-Kolkata flight on December 26, said sources. Fisticuffs ensued after other passengers on the flight took objection to the passenger’s uncooperative attitude.

Terming the incident as “reprehensible”, managing partner at the law firm, PSL Advocates & Solicitors, Sameer Jain averred that an aircraft was a sensitive zone with closed enclosures and such incidents could potentially endanger the lives and safety of other passengers.

“The incident won’t have implications in India since it happened on a foreign registered aircraft on foreign soil. The respective persons can, however, file personal complaints after disembarking in India. Irrespective of the airline, people like them must be banned from future flights!” recommended Jain.

Need for stricter enforcement

Others said that the incident that came to light within days of an altercation between an irate passenger and a cabin supervisor on the country’s largest carrier, IndiGo, had made the National No-Fly List introduced by India to check unruly passengers in 2017 ever more relevant. Especially, as more people take to flying in what is now the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.

“These rules apply to all Indian aircraft operators, airport operators within the Indian territory and passengers during their air travel over the Indian airspace. Such passengers can face a ban or other consequences depending on the level of their offence,” said managing partner at the law firm KLA Legal, Ajay Kumar.

The rules framed by DGCA require airlines to maintain a database of all unruly or disruptive passengers and report them to the regulator and other airlines as and when they occur as part of the ‘National No-Fly List’ of unruly or disruptive passengers.

Airlines have the option of barring any person placed on the No-Fly List to, from or within India for periods ranging from three months to two years. For every subsequent offence, the person will be barred for twice the period of the previous ban.

“The No-Fly regulation was much-needed given the increasing number of such incidents as the Indian civil aviation sector grows from strength to strength,” added Kumar.

Two days after the Thai Smile Airways incident, on December 28, more than 4.13 lakh passengers travelled on 2,862 domestic flights, according to the Ministry of Civil Aviation data. Overall, 8.24 lakh passengers travelled on 5,729 arriving and departing flights that day.

Also read: 'Incident has been taken care of': Thai Smile India speaks up over Bangkok-Kolkata flight brawl incident

Also read: 'Passenger on seat 37C refused to...': Thai Smile Airways on mid-air brawl on Bangkok-Kolkata flight