A male passenger onboard an Air India (A-I) flight from Goa on Monday physically assaulted a crew member and was handed over to the security personnel after landing at the Delhi airport, according to the airline.
In recent months, there have been multiple incidents of unruly passenger behaviour onboard aircraft and the latest incident happened onboard flight AI882 enroute from Goa to Delhi. “The said passenger verbally abused the crew members and then went on to physically assault one of them on board.
On landing at Delhi airport, the passenger continued with the unprovoked, aggressive behaviour and was handed over to the security personnel. We have also reported the incident to the regulator," an A-I spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday.
Further details about the incident could not be immediately ascertained. "Safety of our crew and passengers is of utmost importance to us and we strongly condemn this unruly behaviour of the passenger. We will offer all support to the affected crew members," the spokesperson said. Earlier this month, A-I imposed a two-year flying ban on an individual who caused physical harm to two female cabin crew members onboard a Delhi-London flight on April 10.
A-I chief Campbell Wilson said on Tuesday that unruly passenger behaviour onboard aircraft is also an international airline industry problem, and it is clearly not helpful when such incidents happen.
Wilson, who is the CEO and Managing Director of A-I 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."
While stressing that the airline has taken a much more active role in taking action when people are unruly, he also acknowledged that "unfortunately, the incidents (of unruly behaviour) continue to happen". "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," he said.
