Overview
- Airlines could immediately bar passengers for up to 30 days for specified safety-sensitive acts such as smoking, unauthorized alcohol use, misuse of emergency exits, or tampering with life-saving equipment.
- The graded penalty framework is retained with Levels 1–4, with Level 3 and the newly distinguished Level 4 (cockpit breach) carrying minimum two-year bans.
- Carriers must adopt standard operating procedures, detect and report incidents, and keep a disruptive-passenger database that is notified to DGCA but not added to the regulator’s No-Fly List.
- Longer bans would still require an independent committee that can uphold interim bans up to 45 days; committees include a retired judge and cross-airline representation, with appeals set at 15 days for disruptive bans and 60 days for No-Fly listings.
- The draft applies to travel to and from India, can cover incidents on foreign carriers when reported, and preserves a separate national-security no-fly mechanism, with committee-backed no-fly decisions to be enforced across all airlines.