Misbehaving on a domestic flight could see a passenger being banned from flying with the airline on which the misbehaviour has been committed for anything between three months to two years.

If the Government’s plans for controlling unruly behaviour by passengers on domestic airlines comes to fruition then the process of identifying the first such passenger could start by the end of June this year.

Briefing newspersons on the proposed national no-fly list R.N. Choubey, Secretary, Civil Aviation, said the no-fly ban could also see a passenger being banned from taking a flight for up to two years or without limit, indicating that such a passenger might never be able to fly again.

At the moment the Ministry is proposing three levels of unruly passengers -- Level I would cover passengers indulging in disruptive behaviour like making physical gestures and other such activities, while in Level II passengers indulging in physical abuse are likely to be booked. Those indulging in life threatening behaviour will be booked under Level III, the punishment for which could be a ban on flying with the airline on which the act has been committed for at least two years.

In addition, if the security agencies put any passenger's name on a no-fly list, they too will be banned from boarding an aircraft, Choubey said.

These are among the suggestions proposed in the Civil Aviation Requirement to contain unruly passengers. The CAR has now been put in the public domain to invite suggestions from the public over the next month, following which the Government will work on creating a no-fly list, Choubey said, adding that he hoped to have the list in place by the end of June this year.

At the moment it is proposed that if a passenger is banned by one airline then it will be left to other domestic airlines to decide on whether they want to fly such passengers or not. While the ban is proposed only to be applied on domestic airlines, Choubey said there was nothing to stop foreign airlines from implementing India’s no-fly list if the Rights of Carriage Act of the international airlines also has similar provisions.

To implement the no-fly list, the Government is also looking to see how they can link a passenger making a domestic airline booking to a common identity card, be it a passport or Aadhaar card, so that genuine passengers are not harassed.