News Backgrounder
IATA wants new powers to control air rage
Passenger behavior is turning uglier by the day. On March 14, at a special diplomatic conference convened by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, delegates will be asked to extend powers for dealing with air rage to the world’s airlines.
February 1st 2014
Global airlines are taking their concerns about the increasing incidence of passenger rage to the industry’s highest “rule making body”, ICAO, to frame new rules to control and avoid the more than 15,000 air rage incidents that have be on reported from 2008-2011. Read More »
Said Tim Colehan, the assistant director external affairs at the International Air Transport Association (IATA), at the association’s recent global media briefing: “The fact is that unruly passenger behavior is on the increase. It is a daily issue faced by airlines worldwide. By 2011, there was an air rage incident once every 1200 flights,“ he said.
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| 'Under the present Tokyo Convention, cabin crew and pilots are uncertain how they should respond. There is always a fear they could be sued for assault if they restrain a violent passenger' |
| Tim Colehan Assistant director external affairs IATA |
One of the biggest problems facing airlines was the variance in response to incidents by authorities on the ground. Colehan said frequently, when incidents occur and reported, authorities on the ground more often than not take no action.
A recent example was an incident on an airline bound for Asia. On a flight from Europe to Bangkok last June, five flight attendants struggled to restrain a violent and abusive passenger as she threw drinks and physically and verbally assaulted them. When the plane arrived in Bangkok, the local police refused to interview or charge the female passenger, claiming such an act was out of their jurisdiction. The woman walked free after being escorted through immigration.
An overriding problem for airlines is that the 1963 Tokyo Convention that deals with air rage lacks clarity – mainly because the convention was designed to act against airline hijackers. Pilots and cabin crew are uncertain how they should respond. There is always a fear they could be sued for assault if they restrain a violent passenger, said Colehan.
Changing trends have made the issue more complicated. The convention grants jurisdiction to the State of Registration (SoR) of the aircraft yet the SoR may have no connection with the incidence. So, when a British airline flying from London to Singapore on a UK-registered aircraft has to divert to Bangkok to offload an unruly passenger, local authorities legally have no jurisdiction.
The increase of leased aircraft in global airline fleets has complicated the management of air rage. More than more than 40% of the world’s aircraft fleet is leased, which means that the SoR of the aircraft may not be the same as the home state of the airline operator.
“In 1980, airlines leased 3% of their aircraft and owned 97% of their fleets. By 2015, airlines are forecast to have fleets that will be 50% leased. It will become less likely over time that the SoR is the same as the State of the operator. Gradually, SoR will apply to a handful of states where aircraft leasing business is focused.
IATA wants the Tokyo Convention to extend jurisdiction to the State where the aircraft lands and the State of the operator.
“Courts and prosecutors have faced many problems about the exercise of jurisdiction over unruly passengers. IATA is lobbying to amend the Convention to reflect airline business practices of today,” Colehan said.
“We are confident there will be a new convention, but with so many governments needing to agree to the change, we will have to wait and see.
