An easyJet flight bound for London Southend Airport was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Portugal after a passenger drank an entire litre of duty-free vodka and became aggressive mid-flight.
Flight EZY5726 had taken off on schedule from Gran Canaria International Airport at 12:30 on Sunday 8 June. Around two hours into the journey, the pilot diverted the Airbus A320 to Porto Airport in Portugal after the man became increasingly disruptive.
Fellow passengers reported the man was in his late 20s and appeared to be heavily intoxicated. According to witnesses, he had been drinking from a Burger King cup and became increasingly erratic.
Michelle Help, who was also on board, said: “I was on the flight – he fell on me at one point! I’ve got to praise the two young cabin crew girls who spent ages talking to him, trying to keep him calm!”
Another passenger, Colin Cross, said: “We were on this flight. He had sat next to us at the airport before and asked us what day is it and where is Southend. He was off his head!”
Portuguese police met the aircraft on the runway at Porto and removed the man from the plane before arresting him.
After the removal, the flight eventually continued its journey, taking off again at approximately 16:30 and arrived at Southend Airport over two hours late. The delay also caused disruption to several other scheduled flights that day.
easyJet confirmed the incident in a statement, saying:
“Flight EZY5726 from Gran Canaria to London Southend on Sunday 8 June diverted to Porto and was met by police on arrival due to a passenger behaving disruptively onboard. Once the passenger was removed, the flight continued to Southend.
“easyJet’s crew are trained to assess all situations and acted quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers was not compromised at any time. The safety and wellbeing of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s priority. We take any incidents very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard.”
Despite the dramatic interruption, passengers praised the professionalism of the cabin crew throughout the incident.
1. It wasn’t an emergency landing.
2. He wasn’t arrested on the Runway. Apron, not Runway.