Air India CEO calls for concerted efforts to curb rising cases of unruly passenger behaviour

New Delhi, March 7 (IANS) Expressing concern over the rising number of instances involving unruly behaviours by passengers, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson has called for concerted industry efforts to contain the problem.

Recently, Wilson had informed that incidents surrounding unruly behaviour by inebriated passengers are quite frequent, adding that the airline has now got strict and is reporting all such cases of unruly behaviours.

Wilson had said that the airline has learnt lessons and it could have reacted better to the issues surrounding the 'peeing' incident which occurred in November last year.

The Air India CEO said that the airline has realised the importance of reporting all such incidents. Stating that Air India is now investing more in technology, the CEO had told the media that there are many instances where the airline's crew is at the receiving end when a drunk passenger misbehaves.

Talking to a news organisation, Wilson said that in the last six weeks alone, Air India had witnessed four incidents where people have either assaulted or threatened to physically assault its crew, and the airline is taking a zero-tolerance line on that.

He said that a rise in such cases globally had led even the industry body, International Air Transport Association (IATA), to take a serious view of the situation and call for industry-wide action to stem it.

In the instance of the 'peeing' incident onboard AI-102 operating between New York and Delhi on November 26, 2022, the concerned cabin crew and one pilot have been issued show-cause notices and were de-rostered pending investigation.

While addressing a virtual conference last week, the Air India CEO had said that the airline has enormous potential and efforts are on to make the group a significant international player.

Wilson said that Tata group-owned Air India's order for a record 470 aircraft from Airbus and Boeing will be worth nearly $70 billion. The CEO also said that the process of integration of Vistara with Air India is underway and is now awaiting approval from the regulatory bodies.