247 passengers in 'No-Fly' list in last four years: Civil aviation minister

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As many as 247 passengers were placed on the 'No-Fly' list in the last four years. The highest number of 108 individuals were also barred from flying by airlines for unruly behaviour in 2023, according to official data, news wire PTI reported.

As per the data shared by Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, the number of passengers placed on the 'no-fly' list stood at 10 in 2020 and increased to 66 in 2021. There was a decline in such passengers to 63 in 2022 but the count rose to 108 last year, the data showed.

Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the aviation regulator has put in place Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) to deal with unlawful/disruptive behaviour of passengers onboard aircraft.

According to the CAR, whenever an airline receives a complaint of unruly behaviour from the pilot-in-command, the incident may be referred by the airlines to an internal committee to decide the duration for which the unruly passenger will be banned from flying.

"Based on the recommendation of the concerned airline's Internal committee, DGCA will place the passenger on the 'no-fly list', wherein the unruly passenger is banned from taking flights to/from/within India for a specific period," Singh said in a written reply.

In March 2023, the press information bureau (PIB) in it's release had stated that from 2020, 149 passengers had been placed in the 'No Fly List' for a period, as per the recommendations of the respective Internal Committee constituted by the airline. Since 2020, no such case had been revoked, it said.

Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, last week addressed the concerns over data collection for Digi Yatra. "Digi Yatra is purely voluntary for air passengers and personnel at airports have been directed to collect data for the application only with the consent of passengers", Scindia said. There have been complaints that biometric data for Digi Yatra were being gathered from passengers without their consent and the issue was flagged to the minister by Rajya Sabha member Saket Gokhale.

Digi Yatra platform provides contactless, seamless movement of passengers at various check points at airports based on Facial Recognition Technology (FRT), and is currently available at a minimum 13 airports for domestic passengers.

(With agencies inputs)