hi i'm faa administrator steve dixon recently we've seen a disturbing increase in incidents where airline passengers have disrupted flights with threatening or violent behavior these incidents have stemmed both from passengers refusals to wear masks and from recent violence at the u.s capitol this dangerous behavior can distract disrupt and threaten crew members safety functions and as a former airline captain it's extremely concerning to me and i know it's equally concerning to the airline cockpit and cabin crews whose primary responsibility is to ensure the safety of all passengers now historically we have addressed unruly passenger incidents using a variety of methods ranging from warnings and counseling to civil penalties but these recent events show that a change in our policy is necessary so this week i signed an order directing faa safety inspectors and attorneys to pursue legal enforcement action against any passenger who assaults threatens intimidates or interferes with airline crew members we will not address these cases through warnings or counseling this policy is effective immediately and it will remain in effect through march 30th 2021 now i want to be very clear about what this means it means that if you disrupt a flight with threatening intimidating or violent behavior you'll face a civil penalty from the faa of up to thirty five thousand dollars and possible imprisonment as well the faa monitors and tracks all commercial passenger flights in real time and reporting mechanisms are in place for crew members to identify any number of safety and security concerns that may arise in flight we have zero tolerance for threatening or violent behavior by passengers and will take the strongest possible enforcement action against any passenger who engages in it flying is the safest mode of transportation and i signed this order to keep it that way