The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Saturday warned airlines that failure to implement rules banning on photography on flights and at airports would result in a ban on the airline operating in the same sector for two weeks.
The regulator’s action comes days after videos of chaotic scenes on board a Chandigarh-Mumbai Indigo flight carrying actor Kangana Ranaut went viral on the social media. Television news crews, who were covering the actor’s return to Mumbai, were seen violating aircraft safety norms as well as COVID-19 protocols.
As per the new order if any air passenger is found taking photographs, the said airline would face a ban until the errant flyer is punished.
Though the rules existed from before independence, it was often violated and photography as well as videography became a new normal at airports in the age of smartphones and social media.
In the order issued to all scheduled airlines, Airports Authority of India and all other airport operators, the DGCA said, “As you are aware that as per Rule 13 of the Aircraft Rules 1937, no person can take, at government aerodrome or from an aircraft in flight, any photograph except in accordance with and subject to terms and conditions of a permission in writing... This permission is, however, not applicable when such aircraft is landing, taking off or on ground at a defence aerodrome.”
“In spite of these regulations, it has been noted that at times, the airlines have failed to follow these stipulations primarily because of lack of diligence on their part. Needless to say that such deviations result in compromise in maintaining the highest standards of safety and therefore, it is not allowed,” the order said.
“Keeping this in mind, it has been decided that from now on, in case of such violation occurs on any schedule passenger aircraft, the schedule of flight for that particular route shall be suspended for a period of two weeks from the next day [of the incident] and shall be restored only after the airline has taken all the necessary punitive action against those responsible for the violation,” the circular added.
The DGCA is also learnt to have suspended one Indigo flight in the Chandigarh-Mumbai sector in which the chaotic media incident was reported.