Person Refusing To Wear Mask In Flight To Be Treated As 'Unruly Passenger' : DGCA Issues Circular

Following a suo moto action taken by the Delhi High Court recently, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a circular on Saturday for strict compliance of COVID-19 norms by passengers during air travel.

The air travel controller has said that any passenger who refuses to wear face masks or to follow COVID19 protocol in flights can be treated as an "unruly passenger" as defined in paragraph 3.1 of the Civil Aviation Requirements(CAR) and can be dealt with accordingly. If after repeated warnings, a person refuses to wear a mask before departure, such person should be de-boarded.

Last week, Justice C Harishankar of the Delhi High Court, after noticing the 'stubborn reluctance' of persons to wear masks in a Kolkata-Delhi flight, had taken a suo moto case to issue a slew of directions to the DGCA.

Expressing concern over the fact that these passengers were blissfully ignorant until several entreaties by the judge himself to wear the masks properly, Justice Shankar highlighted in his order that closed air-conditioned environment in a flight where even one person suffers from Covid-19 can have "cataclysmic" effects and therefore, when the country is seeing a resurgence of Covid-19 cases, this behaviour is "completely unconscionable."

Now, the DGCA has issued a circular calling for strict compliance of COVID-19 norms.

"On board the Aircraft, in case any passenger does not adhere to wearing of mask properly even after repeated warnings, he/she should be de-boarded, if need be, before departure. 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 flight, such passenger may be treated as "Unruly Passenger" as defined in para 3.1 of Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) Section 3 Series M Part VI (dated 8th September, 2017) and the procedure in respect of handling such unruly passenger, as provided in above mentioned CAR, shall be followed by the concerned Airline", the DGCA circular says.

Click here to read/download the DGCA Circular