Two Jet2 passengers have been banned from the airline for life following a mid-air brawl on a Manchester-bound flight.
Flight LS896 from Antalya, Turkey to Manchester was forced to divert to Brussels on Thursday evening after “appalling behaviour” from two disruptive travellers.
Footage shared on social media shows the two men shouting and fighting in the aisle as fellow travellers attempt to separate them.
The flight departed from Terminal 2 at Antalya airport at around 6.11pm local time, landing in Brussels three hours and 40 minutes into the almost five-hour flight.
Police arrested the passengers in the Belgian capital before the Boeing 737-800 aircraft could continue its onward journey to the UK.
The airline confirmed that the passengers will be banned from flying with Jet2 for life, adding that the carrier will “vigorously pursue them” to recover the diversion costs.
A Jet2 spokesperson said: “As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behaviour, and we are very sorry that other customers and our colleagues onboard had to experience this too.”
The Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor's office is investigating the disruptive passengers for intentional assault and battery, reported BBC News.
It’s not the first aircraft to divert due to passenger disruption this year.
In January, an American Airlines flight to Ecuador was forced to return to the US after the crew declared an in-flight emergency.
Flight AA2259 from Miami to Quito, Ecuador, issued a squawk 7700 alert, the signal for a general emergency, on 31 January.
American Airlines said a “disruptive customer” in the cabin was behind the Ecuador-bound flight’s diversion.
The Boeing 737 MAX 8 made a U-turn over Cuba to its departure airport mid-way through a four-hour journey to the Ecuadorian capital.
A spokesperson for American Airlines told The Independent: “On Jan. 31, American Airlines flight 2259 with service from Miami (MIA) to Quito, Ecuador (UIO) returned to MIA and was met by law enforcement upon arrival due to a disruptive customer.”
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