There has been a “significant” increase in the number of incidents involving difficult and unruly passengers on flights operated by Irish air carriers, The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has said.
In its latest annual safety performance review, published on Friday, the IAA said there was a “statistically significant” increase in the reported incidents during 2023, where passengers on board an aircraft posed a safety risk.
There were 426 incidents relating to difficult and unruly passengers reported to the IAA last year, an increase from 298 in 2022.
The authority is now working with airlines, airports and national police and security services to “facilitate a collaborative approach to address this problem”.
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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had warned early last year that difficult and unruly passengers represented an emerging risk during the summer of 2023.
“It appears to have continued to be an issue throughout 2023,” the IAA said in its report.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary recently called for alcohol limits in airports to tackle a rise in disorder on flights, saying passengers should be restricted to two drinks per journey to curb what he said was an increase in antisocial behaviour and violence.
Unruly behaviour was the second most common event type reported during 2023 after bird strikes, the report stated. Figures also show a total of 1,544 bird strikes on Irish aircraft were recorded last year.
The third most common type of event reported were wind shear or microburst incidents which arise from sudden changes in wind speeds.
The IAA’s latest figures show there were three non-fatal incidents involving Irish aircrafts last year, as well as eight serious incidents.
Two were categorised as “abnormal runway contact”, and the other was categorised as “loss of control on the ground”.
Some of the serious incidents included one near mid-air collision outside Ireland, a loss of control in-flight and a “runway excursion”.
The IAA’s chief executive Declan Fitzpatrick said that while 2022 heralded the start of the return to normal operations, 2023 was the first full year without any Covid drestrictions.
Globally, last year was one of the safest on record, he said, with the fatal accident rate in commercial air transport below the five-year average.
In Ireland, there were no fatalities last year. The main statistics for accidents and serious incidents in both commercial aviation and general aviation were lower than 2022.
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