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Passengers' drunken fight forces Jetstar plane back to Darwin
By Matt Cunningham November 01, 2008 08:35am
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Drunk passengers start fight
Captain turns plane around
Second incident in a week
AN international flight was forced to return to Darwin airport after a fight broke out between five drunken passengers.
Jetstar flight JQ61 carrying 172 passengers from Darwin to Singapore was forced to turn around about half an hour after it took off from Darwin airport on Thursday night, the Northern Territory News reported.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said it was believed the men had been drinking dutyfree alcohol before they boarded the plane.
Despite being intoxicated, they passed several security checkpoints and boarded the plane.
Mr Westaway said the men became "disruptive" about 30 minutes after take-off, leaving the captain no option but to turn the plane around.
"We originally contemplated having security meet them in Singapore but the captain made the decision to go back to Darwin," he said.
It is the second Australian flight in a week to be turned around because of unruly passengers
Australian Federal Police officers were waiting at Darwin airport and escorted the five Malaysian men off the plane.
Two men were taken into protective custody. The other three were allowed to leave on their own.
The two men in custody were later released after Jetstar informed the AFP it did not want to pursue charges.
The disruption delayed the flight by about three hours.
"We are doing our own investigation as to how these individuals got on to the plane while intoxicated," Mr Westaway said. But he said Jetstar management supported the captain's decision to turn the plane around.
"Our captain and crew have a duty of care to all passengers," he said. he said.
There's something odd about this story. 5 drunk punters cause an airline to incur significant costs, many fellow passenegers would have been delayed and missed connectionc, yet neither the airline or authorities take any action.
Then the Jet* spin doctor says "Our captain and crew have a duty of care to all passengers." That being so, how did the drunks manage to get on board? Is there now a lot of soul-searching at Jet*??.