Every 3 hours the safety of a flight within the EU is threatened by passengers demonstrating unruly or disruptive behaviour. At least 70% of these incidents involve some form of aggression. At least once a month the situation escalates to such a degree forcing the plane to perform an emergency landing. 

These figures are worrying as they demonstrate an increasing trend. What is particularly disturbing is that these incidents have a direct impact on both the safety of crew and passengers. Any kind of unruly or disruptive behaviour whether related to intoxication, aggression or other factors introduces an unnecessary risk to the normal operation of a flight.

To reach out to airlines and passengers, EASA has joined forces with IATA to promote a new campaign, “Not On My Flight”.

The campaign draws attention to examples of unruly behaviour, and the consequences that passengers face. “We are happy to team up with IATA on tackling an issue that directly affects the safety of passengers and crew. Flying should be an enjoyable and safe experience,” said Patrick Ky, Executive Director of EASA referring to the launch of the initiative.

“Unruly passengers are a small minority but their actions can have a disproportionate impact on others. Passengers and crew have a right to a safe flight free from disturbance and harassment. The rise in serious unruly passenger behaviour is a great concern to airlines.

IATA members unanimously passed a resolution at our 2014 Annual General Meeting setting out our priorities for tackling unruly incidents, which included working with stakeholders to raise awareness of the importance of this issue.

We are pleased to support EASA’s “not on my flight” campaign, which we hope will focus minds on what is acceptable conduct on board, and the consequences for passengers if they fail to adhere to safety regulations,” said Rafael Schvartzman, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Europe.