Seychelles to ratify Montreal Protocol 2014 to improve airline security and safety |18 January 2020

PS Renaud (Photo: Joena Meme)

The Cabinet of Ministers on Wednesday approved for Seychelles to ratify the Montreal Protocol 2014 to amend the Tokyo Convention on offences and certain other acts committed onboard aircrafts and subsequently to expeditiously and effectively revise Seychelles’ national laws and regulations to deal effectively with the problem of unruly and disruptive passengers, taking into account the relevant international conventions, the protocol, and legal guidance provided by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The protocol, which came into effect on January 1, 2020, seeks to fill the gaps of the Tokyo Convention 1963 as well as the loopholes in the convention that allows unruly passengers to escape law enforcement for serious offences committed on board aircraft. In particular, the contracting states expressed concern about the escalation of the severity and frequency of unruly behaviour on board aircraft that may jeopardise the safety of the aircraft or of persons or property therein or jeopardise good order and discipline on board.

As explained by principal secretary for civil aviation, ports and marine Alan Renaud on Wednesday, the new protocol will serve to bring about many changes including the introduction of mandatory New State of landing jurisdiction and mandatory New State of the operator jurisdiction.

The new protocol significantly improves the ability of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) member states to expand jurisdiction over related offenses to the state of the operator and the state of landing, giving greater clarity to the definition of unruly behaviour (such as including the threat of or actual physical assault, or refusal to follow safety-related instructions).

“The protocol is very important and serves to modify the Tokyo Convention 1963. Seychelles as a country is part of the Tokyo Convention which deals with unruly passengers. Security is a priority among all airline carriers and unruly passengers rack up a big cost for the airlines. We discussed with the national carrier and they stated the incidents happen at least twice or three times per year and other airlines carrying passengers to Seychelles face at least six or seven such incidents per year,” PS Renaud stated.

Furthermore, the protocol sets out the powers of in-flight security officers, granting them powers to restrain an unruly passenger upon the request of the aircraft commander, as well as to take preventive action against passengers, on reasonable grounds where they believe that an offence is about to be committed.

“We have to ensure that there is an avenue for remedies when a passenger causes an inconvenience for other airline passengers and the airline operations itself and this protocol establishes such measures. What we now have to do is to introduce new regulations to domesticate the convention and the Montreal Protocol 2014. This will also involve detailing the different offences covered by the convention and protocol,” PS Renaud concluded.

The Montreal protocol has so far been adopted by 56 countries and is a mandatory requirement for member states of the Tokyo Convention 1963.

Laura Pillay