A drunk passenger who bit a crew member for up to three minutes and kicked another during a flight has avoided jail. Kevin Healey, 26, was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court for the assault on a 12-hour flight from Shanghai to Manchester.
The court heard he caused a deep bite injury to one crew member and kicked another in the thigh, causing her to fall to the ground while he continued to verbally abuse her. Healey claimed staff should 'be afraid of him' as his dad was 'very powerful' and was seen puffing on a vape and threatening to kill cabin crew.
Rising incidents on flights
Healey is one of a large number of people convicted for abusing airline staff during flights. The problem has become so widespread that Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary called for a booze ban in airports before early flights to reduce abusive behaviour onboard.
Globally, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) recorded one disruptive passenger incident for every 395 flights in 2024. The rise in air rage has been linked to several factors, with alcohol seen as a major cause.
Booze blamed for violence
O’Leary said earlier this year that his airline is forced to divert an average of nearly one flight every day because of bad behaviour onboard, up from one a week a decade ago. He said: “It’s becoming a real challenge for all airlines. I fail to understand why anybody in airport bars is serving people at five or six o’clock in the morning. Who needs to be drinking beer at that time?”
Cabin crew told consumer magazine Which? that the one thing most incidents have in common is alcohol and that banning booze would be a 'simple fix' for most on-board violence. However, rowdy groups of already-drunk passengers are often still served alcohol onboard.
Helen Cleaver, who flew from Stansted to Ibiza, told Which? she asked cabin crew why they kept serving a stag do despite them being drunk when they boarded. A flight attendant told her: "They can get nasty if we don't." Airlines and airports also profit heavily from alcohol sales, fuelling fears a ban will not come into force.
Other triggers and worst times
While drunk, unruly passengers were the most common cause of disruptive incidents, alcohol is not the only trigger. Which? members highlighted a large number of petty squabbles over reclining seats, armrests, personal space and children's behaviour. Studies also link violent incidents to long delays, crowded boarding gates and night flights, while shrinking seating space adds to frustration.
Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) statistics show that the most incidents take place in June and May, despite more people travelling in August, with the spike thought to be caused by the peak season for stag and hen dos. The worst times to fly are Thursday afternoons or Fridays. Approximately 35% of UK flights are outbound to overseas destinations, yet these flights account for more than 60% of all disruptive incidents, the CAA said.
