On June 4, the Federal Law No. 376-FZ «On Amendments to the Air Code of the Russian Federation» comes into force. According to it, airlines have a right to blacklist unruly passengers and refuse to provide transportation services to them.

Safety and security of flights is the absolute priority for Rossiya Airlines. That is why, starting from today, disruptive passengers held accountable under art. 11.17 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation, art. 213 of the Criminal Code, art. 267.1 of the Criminal Code, are not allowed for transportation. The airline now has the right to include people into «the list of passengers, whose transportation is limited», according to which it is possible to refuse the transportation. The term of disruptive behavior may refer, for example, to verbal and physical coarseness towards other passengers and the crew or to onboard smoking, as well as to intentional damage to property of passengers or the airline.

Previously, airlines did not have any legitimate right to restrict the transportation of hooligans. According to the Civil Code, it was impossible to refuse the conclusion of a public contract - if the client wanted to buy an airline ticket, the carrier was obliged to sell this ticket. Now the responsibility of passengers for disruptive behavior is strengthened at the legislative level - and this is an important step towards enhancing security onboard.

The possibility not to fly off by air transport, for example, on vacation may force potential violators to take a more responsible approach to controlling their behavior. Elimination of so-called disruptive passengers from return traffic or repeated flight within a year will help to reduce the level of safety risks. Moreover, the emergence of a new measure of impact on disruptive passengers should positively affect the prevention of violations. The introduction of such a measure will bear an educational status: many violations were caused by the inadequate responsibility provided for by the current legislation.

Blacklisting is not the only measure that disruptive passengers can expect. Last year the penalty for disruptive behavior onboard was also changed - transport hooligans now face not only administrative, but also criminal liability; the fines were significantly increased.