new delhi the gloves are off for travellers who refuse to wear masks or ppe gowns onboard aircraft three airlines acted against seven passengers on monday and tuesday march 15 and 16 with five being handed over to security agencies on arrival for not wearing masks despite repeated warnings and two being taken off aircraft before take off for not wearing ppe gowns directorate general of civil aviation dgca chief arun kumar has ordered surprise checks across airports to see how effectively local management airlines and security agencies are cracking down on those disobeying covid protocol of wearing masksppe gowns and maintaining social distancing passengers violating these norms could be banished from flying for anywhere upto two years under the dgcas unruly passenger rulesairasia india offloaded two passengers from its goamumbai flight on monday march 15 for not wearing ppe gown before take off said a senior dgca official passengers in middle seat have to wear gownalliance air aa said it handed over four passengers of its jammudelhi flight of tuesday to security agencies on arrival for refusing to wear masks despite repeated instructions by the cabin crew and even pilots through public announcement system in the third case a passenger flying indigo from delhi to goa on tuesday first created a fuss about wearing the ppe gown as per requirement during flight she kept taking off her mask the crew and pilots kept asking her to wear the same properly but she did not listen she was handed over to the police on arrival in goa said an indigo officialtimes viewin times when the outbreak is gaining ground again covidappropriate behaviour is mandatory its sheer contempt for rules that made the offenders ignore calls to wear a mask they should be put on the nofly list of not just one airline but all airlines which will also serve as a warning for those with similar intentionsdgca arun kumar took a twohour virtual meeting with all airport directors on tuesday to ensure strict compliance of the covid norms he has ordered surprise checks across airports to see how effectively the local agencies are enforcing the same dgca officials inspected 38 airports on monday and tuesday and more checks will happen this weekour teams are checking onboard aircraft also it is essential for everyone to follow covid protocol we are maintaining high vigil to ensure that happens and that wilful violators are acted against as per rules kumar told toi the regulator is checking if any airport has people without masks and if so what action are the local airport management security agencies and airlines takingthe heightened regulatory action comes after delhi high court justice c hari shankar observed an alarming situation a blatant violation of covid protocol by passengers while flying from kolkata to delhi on march 5 taking sun motu cognisance the court passed a landmark order on march 8 to agencies for ensuring strict compliance of covid norms by flyersthe dgca then ordered security agencies not