Aviation authority considers flight ban on unruly passengers

In a recently issued directive on aviation safety and security, CAAV head Dinh Viet Thang said airport managements should look out for passengers who intentionally violate aviation regulations and deal with such cases strictly.

Airports should step up monitoring of areas with high airplane activity as well as restricted areas, to prevent passengers from engaging in behaviors that undermine security and safety.

“The crew needs to actively detect passengers that don’t abide by the rules and report them to aviation authorities so that they can be dealt with as needed,” the directive says.

The directive comes after several incidents of passengers causing havoc at airports coming to light recently. Recent cases include a passenger putting a mobile phone against a plane window to capture pictures of clouds, and a woman dancing for a TikTok video at the Phu Quoc Airport tarmac, near a running airplane.

When a phone is put against a plane window, sunlight may heat it up and cause it to explode, especially for a phone constantly recording things, while a person standing near a running airplane might get sucked into engines.

People who violate aviation regulations are usually fined first, and if they refuse to pay the fine, banned from flying for certain periods of time.