The head of Russia's state carrier Aeroflot has asked the Kremlin for harsher punishments against unruly passengers, the RBC news website reported Friday.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Vitaly Savelyev said that he had asked for greater fines for customers who insulted crewmembers and greater rights to handcuff and tightly restrain rowdy passengers.
Savelyev said that airline staff were only able tie down out-of-control fliers with blankets. A number of Aeroflot flight attendants had received taekwondo training from Chinese airlines, he said, as quoted by RBC.
He also requested the creation of a blacklist for problem travelers, which would ban them from Aeroflot flights.
The company has so far listed 3,000 persistent rule-breakers, but is not yet able to deny them ticket sales, RBC reported.
In 2014, an Aeroflot flight to Moscow from Tenerife, Spain, was grounded for safety reasons after passenger Vladimir Rakhimov allegedly started a brawl. Aeroflot sued and Rakhimov was fined a record one million rubles ($15,300).
