Increase in 'air rage' incidents

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There has been a sharp rise in the number of instances of "air rage", government figures show.

There were 3,529 reported incidents of disruptive behaviour aboard UK aircraft from April 2008 to March 2009 compared with 2,702 instances in 2007-08.

Alcohol was involved in 37% of incidents, according to the Department for Transport.

Transport Minister Paul Clark described disruptive behaviour in the air as "completely unacceptable".

Serious incidents

Mr Clark, said: "The safety of passengers and crew is our top priority, and we want everyone to be able to fly without fear or disruption.

"This is why in recent years we have introduced tougher penalties, with up to five years imprisonment and a £5000 fine for offenders."

DISRUPTIVE BEHAVIOUR 73% of disruptive passengers were maleIn 77% of cases offenders received a verbal or written warningIn 10% of cases offenders were off-loaded before departure In 2% of cases the airline refused return travel to the offenderPolice or airport security attended 505 incidents <i>Source: Department for Transport</i>

He added that there had been an improvement in reporting of incidents, which made direct comparisons with previous years difficult.

The number of incidents classed as serious rose from 31 in 2007/08 to 44 in 2008/09.

The rise meant there were serious incidents on one flight in 24,000 in 2008/09 compared with one in 35,000 flights in 2007/08.

Of the 44 cases classed as serious, 29 involved passengers being restrained and 13 caused the aircraft to divert.

'Worrying trend'

Passengers disobeying cabin crew instructions made up 28% of reported incidents.

Violence was involved in 7% of cases, of which 44% was directed towards cabin crew and 51% towards other passengers.

As well as drinking, smoking also featured highly as the cause of disruption. It was involved in 21% of cases, with 95% of these concerning smoking in the toilet.

Shadow Transport Secretary Theresa Villiers said the figures revealed a "worrying trend".

She said: "These troublemakers should not be tolerated and airlines' cabin crew should be fully supported when having to deal with these incidents of significant anti-social behaviour."

Aviation analyst John Strickland said airlines were prepared to take whatever action was necessary to deal with disruptive behaviour but said only a small minority of passengers caused trouble.

"The problem with 'air rage' is one that airlines watch carefully but shouldn't be taken out of context. The majority of flights pass without problem," he said.