First-time flyer blues for India Airlines

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First-time flyers trouble India

Inexperienced flyers are causing a few headaches for India's budget airlines, with one carrier reporting a passenger trying to open a door mid-flight.

India's rapid economic growth has made air travel an option for many more people, as a host of new airlines have taken to the skies in recent years.

But the burgeoning demand for flying has brought its own problems.

A report by one airline revealed that passengers trying to have a chat with a pilot forced an emergency landing.

'Safety implications' /b]

India is one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets, but the surge in demand has led to chaotic scenes on flights, with some people struggling to overcome their nerves and adapt to flying etiquette.

The Times of India, quoting an internal study by one airline, reported that it had experienced a number of recent incidents.

First-time flyers are eager to know about the aircraft

Siddhanta Sharma, Spicejet

These included passengers trying to open doors shortly before take-off and loitering outside the cockpit trying to talk to the pilots.

In one case, pilots were forced to make an emergency landing.

One airline boss told the paper that the problems were caused mainly by passengers' nervousness or curiosity.

"First-time flyers are eager to know about the aircraft and complications first-hand as they would do in a train or bus," Siddhanta Sharma, chief executive of budget airline Spicejet, said.

"But the safety implications for contacting pilots in a flying aircraft are far more stringent and cannot be compromised."

One security expert said there had been a number of violent incidents in which staff's safety had been put at risk.

"There are times when reason fails," said Colonel BP Suman.

"The crew is then permitted to resort to the use of physical restraint."

Hardly surprising considering the mentality of even many "veteran" desi flyers on Air India flights from London to India, and even on non-desi Singapore Airlines for Singapore-India flights.