Air India Fined $37,000 After Passenger In-Flight Urination Act

India’s civil aviation regulator has fined Air India Ltd. $37,000 and suspended a pilot’s license for three months for not following the correct reporting procedures after a male passenger urinated on another female traveler on a flight from New York to New Delhi.

(Bloomberg) — India’s civil aviation regulator has fined Air India Ltd. $37,000 and suspended a pilot’s license for three months for not following the correct reporting procedures after a male passenger urinated on another female traveler on a flight from New York to New Delhi.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation fined Tata Sons-owned Air India 3 million rupees ($36,960), according to a statement Friday, and levied another 300,000-rupee fine on a director for in-flight services.

“A male passenger conducted himself in a disorderly manner and allegedly relieved himself on a female passenger,” the DGCA said. 

Since the incident, which happened last year but only came to light in January, Air India has started a program to strengthen its crews’ handling of unruly passengers and is reviewing its policy around alcohol service on flights.

Earlier this month, Wells Fargo & Co. said it had fired an employee after an incident that occured in November aboard an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi, without saying exactly what the incident was. 

Air India could have handled incidents such as the one in November “better,” Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson said in a statement at the time.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.