The article doesn't give any indication if this individual was jailed for ABH or endangerment of the aircraft or a combination of the two. I suspect it's more for ABH, which is a fairly serious and violent offence committed against some one who was carrying their employment duties and a 12 month jail term seems appropriate.
Taking passports away from people under such circumstance probably isn't appropriate, justified, practical and certainly not possible. Yes, football thugs have to surrender their passports when some international games take place but there is specific legislation which allows this.
I would bet money that this guy probably has some sort of criminal history, you don't become violent overnight at the age of 53 nor do violent people restrict their activities to aircraft. Taking his passport away wouldn't, in anycase, take away his ability to board aircraft, there are plenty of domestic flights in the UK.