Drunk Swedish flyer arrested for molesting Indigo crew member

A 62-year-old drunk Swedish national was arrested by Mumbai police for allegedly molesting a cabin crew on board an Indigo flight from Bangkok to Mumbai.

Klas Erik Harald Jonas Westberg allegedly assaulted a co-passenger and created a ruckus mid-air on the 6E-1052 Indigo Flight, as per police.

Sources claimed that the accused passenger started behaving unruly when a crew member informed him that there was no food on board. The accused agreed to take a chicken dish and when the air hostess approached him with the POS machine to make the payment, on the pretext of swiping the card, he misbehaved with her and held the air hostess's hand inappropriately.

The matter was subsequently reported to the police concerned and a case registered. After the arrest, he was reportedly produced before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Court which granted him bail.

Several such incidents of unruly air passengers have been reported by the airlines in last couple of weeks.

Recently, two passengers travelling on a Indigo flight to Mumbai continued consuming alcohol onboard despite multiple warnings from the crew. They verbally abused the crew and co-passengers.

In order to deal with unruly behaviour on-board, 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).

Indo-Asian News Service