Air India to keep handcuffs for unruly passengers on board, says report
The carrier's international flights already used to carry restrainers, and now domestic flights will also have them.
After two reported cases of molestation in under a month, Air India has announced restrictive measures to keep unruly passengers under check, reported The Times of India. Passengers who endanger the safety of a flight or are a threat to the other flyers will be restrained to their seats using plastic handcuffs.
Air India chairman Ashwani Lohani told the English daily that restrainers were already present on their international flights, however, now domestic aircraft will also carry them. “The safety of passengers and aircraft is paramount,” he said.
The announcement from the state-run airlines comes after two separate cases of in-flight molestation were reported recently. On December 21, a man was arrested for groping a woman on an Air India flight from Mumbai to Newark while she was asleep. Another incident was reported on January 2, where a man flying from Muscat to Delhi by Air India was arrested after the air hostess complained that he had “inappropriately touched her” and used lewd language.