AI incident: DGCA seeks report; airline says passenger banned from flying for 30 days

PTI, Jan 4, 2023, 4:42 PM IST

Air India on Wednesday said it has imposed a 30-day flying ban on a passenger who had urinated on a co-passenger onboard a flight from New York to Delhi in November last year and set up an internal panel to probe whether there were lapses on part of the crew in addressing the situation.

Separately, aviation regulator DGCA said it has sought a report from the airline on the incident which happened on November 26 and will ”take action against those found negligent”.

The airline said it has filed a police complaint about the incident, but did not specify when the 30-day ban came into effect.

On November 26, an inebriated male passenger urinated on a female co-passenger during a flight from New York to Delhi, according to reports.

Without mentioning the details about the incident, an Air India spokesperson on Wednesday said the airline has taken a very serious view of the incident, where a passenger behaved in an unacceptable and undignified manner on the New York-Delhi flight that caused extreme distress to a fellow passenger.

Air India has ”banned the passenger for 30 days, the maximum it is permitted to unilaterally do so, and reported the matter to the DGCA for further action,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

However, Air India declined to provide details about when the flying ban was imposed.

”We have also constituted an internal committee to probe lapses on part of Air India’s crew and address the deficiencies that delayed quick redressal of the situation,” the statement said.

Further, the airline said it is also in regular contact with the aggrieved passenger and her family during the investigation and reporting process.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the morning said the regulator is ”seeking a report from the Airline and shall take action against those found negligent”.