Governments must close legal loopholes on unruly passengers — IATA
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged governments to close legal loopholes that allow unruly passengers to escape law enforcement for serious offences committed on board aircraft.
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Governments have gathered for a diplomatic conference at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal since March 26, 2014, to discuss revisions to the Tokyo Convention.
The revisions will enhance the ability of law enforcement and other authorities to prosecute the small minority of passengers who are violent, disruptive, abusive, or act in a manner which endangers safety.
The Tokyo Convention was negotiated in 1963 and it gives jurisdiction over offenses committed onboard aircraft to the state of registration of the aircraft. With modern leasing arrangements, the state of aircraft registry is often neither the state in which the aircraft lands nor the state of the operator.
This limits the practicality of enforcement and consequently, the options available to mitigate disruptive behaviours. For this reason, the airline industry supports proposals for jurisdiction to be extended to both the state in which the aircraft lands and the state in which the operator is located.
"Airlines are doing all they can to prevent and manage unruly passenger incidents, but this needs to be backed with effective law enforcement. Reports of unruly behaviour are on the rise,” Mr Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO, was quoted as saying.
He added that “The Tokyo Convention was not originally designed to address unruly behaviour and there is a great deal of uncertainty amongst carriers as to what actions crew can take to manage incidents in the air. And if the aircraft lands in a state other than where the aircraft was registered, local authorities are not always able to prosecute".
"Passengers expect to enjoy their journey incident-free. And air crews have the right to perform their duties without harassment. In addition, the inconvenience to other travellers of a forced diversion is significant”, he noted.
Mr Tyler was of the view that “At the moment, there are too many examples of people getting away with serious breaches of social norms that jeopardise the safety of flights because local law enforcement authorities do not have the power to take action”, adding that “IATA applauds the work of ICAO and supports the proposed revisions to the Tokyo Convention. Closing these legal loopholes will better deter such behaviours and make passengers think twice before acting in ways that may put the safety of many at risk”.