UAE to issue rules to deal with unruly passengers

The UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) is working on new regulations to deal with unruly flight passengers, GCAA director-general Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi has revealed, according to a report from Arabian Business.

Whilst Al Suwaidi stated that instances involving unruly flight passengers in the UAE are "few", he added:“Though the current law has some clauses to deal with such issues, we are now working on new regulations."

The GCAA presently lists the steps to take for reporting incidents of unruly passengers in its civil aviation advisory publication but does not disclose any specific details regarding penalties for those who cause public disturbances and disruptions during flights.

There have been cases of unruly passengers causing disturbances on Dubai outbound flights in the past. Accoring to Arabian Business, this past January, a passenger on a flight from Dubai to Delhi refused to follow inflight security procedures then turned violent and had to be restrained by cabin crew. Similarly, a passenger from Dubai to Melbourne two years ago had to be restrained after causing an onboard public disturbance.