Ban air rage thugs from flying, MP demands, as incidents soar
AN MP is trying to change the law to stop thugs causing havoc on flights.
Gareth Johnson is introducing his Bill after the number of air rage incidents tripled in three years.
In 2019, 373 reports of intoxicated, violent or unruly passengers on board UK planes were made to the Civil Aviation Authority – but that number had soared to 1,028 by 2022.
Mr Johnson, the Tory MP for Dartford, will set out his plan to the House of Chambers on Wednesday.
He said: “This Bill aims to ensure violent people who cause mayhem on aeroplanes are actually banned from flying for a specific period of time by a court.
“The difficulty we have currently is someone can be violent on a particular operator’s aeroplane and then that operator cannot pass that information on to another operator.
“If you introduce this legislation, this will make it even less likely to happen.” He added: “It is right that people can be banned from driving, they can be banned from being a company director and they can be banned from football matches.The same should apply for people who behave violently on planes.”
One recent report claimed intoxicated passengers were a “bigger issue on party routes”, with some flight attendants “deliberately avoiding destinations such as Ibiza or Mykonos”. Currently, drunken passengers can face fines of up to £5,000 and two years’ imprisonment.
The Department for Transport said: “All passengers and crew have the right to feel safe when travelling by
air. There is already robust legislation and powers to deal with disruptive passengers, including bans, fines and removal from flights.”
Anna Bowles, at the Civil Aviation Authority, added: “This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and can pose a risk to aircraft safety.
“The aviation industry undertakes a range of measures to tackle this issue and passengers could face criminal charges with severe penalties, even prison, for aggressive behaviour.”