Air India's London-bound flight returns to Delhi after passenger hits cabin crew

An Air India flight to London returned to Delhi on Monday due to the "serious unruly behaviour" of a passenger onboard.

The Air India flight AI 111 scheduled to operate on the Delhi-London-Heathrow route returned shortly after departure.

An FIR was lodged as the accused person allegedly misbehaved and caused physical harm to two of the cabin crew members.

Officials said that the accused person continued to create a scene even after verbal and written warnings and the pilot-in-command had to return to Delhi. Subsequently, the accused person was handed over to the concerned security authorities and adequate action was initiated.

"Not heeding to verbal and written warnings, the passenger continued with unruly behaviour including causing physical harm to two of the cabin crew members. The pilot in command decided to return to Delhi and the passenger was handed over to the security personnel upon landing," said an Air India spokesperson on Monday.

An FIR has also been lodged with the police. "Safety, security and dignity of all on board is important to us at Air India. We are providing all possible support to the affected crew members. We regret the inconvenience caused to the passengers and have rescheduled the flight to depart for London this afternoon," added the spokesperson.

Airlines have witnessed many such incidents of unruly behaviour by some air passengers in the last few months. 

Last week, a drunk flyer on board an Indigo flight from Delhi to Bengaluru tried to open the flap of the emergency doors. Subsequently, the matter was reported to the concerned agencies and appropriate action was initiated.

During the end of March, two passengers travelling on an Indigo flight from Dubai to Mumbai continued consuming alcohol onboard despite multiple warnings from the crew. They verbally abused the crew and co-passengers.

In order to deal withnunruly behaviour, DGCA has issued CAR, Section 3- Air Transport, Series M, and Part VI titled `Handling of unruly/ disruptive passengers`.

As per the procedure defined in the CAR, airlines are required to follow a prescribed procedure for holding passengers accountable before they are placed in the `No Fly List` by the airline. Based on the information provided by the airlines, `No Fly List` is maintained by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)