Air India CEO Campbell Wilson is not happy about the recent uptick in the number of unruly passengers in the South Asian country. Wilson highlighted the problem of unruly passengers as an international one, but his comments come at a time when such cases have significantly risen in Indian aviation. In particular, Air India has experienced the bulk of such incidents lately compared to other Indian carriers, the most recent of which came only a few days ago on a domestic flight.

The airline official said AI was taking such incidents extremely seriously and intended on holding all such passengers accountable. However, despite the consequences, Wilson admitted such episodes continue to happen. In an interview with the PTI, Wilson said,

"As an airline, we needed to and have taken a firm line on unruly behaviour onboard aircraft... there is a level of behaviour that we expect from people when they fly. Also, imparting that same message to the crew when supporting them. When they happen, we take action and hopefully in the process, we remind people of what the standard is and we remind people of consequences when the standard is not met."

Rising incidents in 2023

As travel recovery increases in post-pandemic aviation, incidents of hostile travelers have also seen a dramatic increase in India. So far in 2023, there have been almost a dozen such cases.

Air India Airbus A320
Photo: Skycolors/Shutterstock

Unruly passenger behavior first made headlines because of a November 2022 incident in which an intoxicated business class passenger on a New York-Delhi AI flight urinated on another passenger. The appalling incident shocked the world and AI caught a lot of flak for not taking any action against the misbehaving passenger despite executives knowing about the issue.

After this incident, several other cases of passengers caught smoking in the lavatories on AI flights have also surfaced. The airline was also criticized for not reporting another serious incident to the appropriate authorities.

Another case occurred just yesterday when a passenger verbally abused and physically assaulted a crew member on flight AI882 from Goa to Delhi. Thankfully, airline personnel were quick to report the incident this time, and the disruptive individual was handed over to the security officials.

Dealing with such passengers

With the problem of unruly passengers being on the rise, airlines are having to provide additional training and powers to cabin crew to properly tackle the menace. AI recently empowered flight attendants to refuse to serve alcohol if necessary.

Air India A320neo
Photo: Airbus

India isn't the only country to face a string of issues. Back in 2021, the US faced several instances of harassment and violence against crew members, causing the FAA to introduce its 'zero tolerance policy.' The agency has been proactive in issuing fines worth tens of thousands of dollars for serious incidents and referring instances to the FBI. While the removal of masks reduced cases of misbehavior, the policy has been successful in bringing incident levels much closer to 2019 levels (it's not there yet though).

At the same time, carriers are also making an attempt to follow the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s rules on the matter, which require all such incidents to be reported. For failing to report two major incidents in time, Air India was slapped with a fine of ₹30,00,000 ($36,255) and ₹10,00,000 ($12,000). The airline admitted its shortcomings in reporting such lapses in time and said it will do better going forward.

What do you make of Wilson’s comments on the issue of unruly passengers? If you were the CEO of a major airline, what steps would you take to effectively tackle this issue? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: PTI

  • Air India Tile
    Air India
    IATA/ICAO Code:
    AI/AIC
    Airline Type:
    Full Service Carrier
    Hub(s):
    Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport
    Year Founded:
    1946
    Alliance:
    Star Alliance
    CEO:
    Campbell Wilson
    Country:
    India
    Region:
    Asia