An unruly passenger was thrown off an Arkia flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv, at the instructions of the captain, before the plane took off. As a result of the incident, the plane's other passengers endured a delay of more than two hours before the flight was able to take off. At this stage it is still unclear what provoked the fracas but if it was decided to eject the passenger from the aircraft after their baggage had been checked and loaded onto the plane, then it was likely behavior considered to be endangering the security of the passengers and crew.
This latest incident is part of a growing trend of unruly behavior on flights. Last week an El Al plane bound for Prague returned to Tel Aviv after an unruly passenger was judged to pose a risk to the flight's safety. The decision to return to Ben Gurion Airport was made shortly after take-off, after a "violent passenger" incident was declared. The passenger was apparently drunk.
A similar incident occurred in the skies last week as well, when an El Al plane flying from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv had to make an emergency landing in Madrid. The emergency landing came after a passenger became unruly and behaved violently towards the air crew, to the point that it was decided that he was jeopardizing the flight's safety.
Such events are rare but flight crews say they have become more common in recent times, partly because of arguments about the requirement to wear masks since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic and partly because there are more drunk passengers. In the US, under federal law, passengers refusing to wear masks are handed a fine as soon as they leave the plane but this does not happen in Israel.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 9, 2022.
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