Passenger Banned From Airline For Life Following Brawl On Flight [VIDEO]

A fight broke out aboard a recent Ryanair flight from England to Spain in an incident that saw both male and female passengers throwing punches during the brawl. The airline said following the Thursday incident that a passenger involved in the fight has been banned from flying with the carrier for life.

It wasn’t clear Monday what spurred the incident, though video seems to indicate the fight started with an argument between a man and a woman seated in a row behind him. Tensions apparently hit a boiling point shortly before the plane touched down in Alicante.

“It was just as we were about to land when the woman started kicking off,” 30-year-old Lucy Norris of Blyth, Northumberland, told the Chronicle Live. “She was shouting, screaming and making a show of herself. She had been rude to a few people on the flight and I think she was mortal drunk.”

Norris added that police were reportedly made aware of the in-flight melee but did not board the flight to remove the woman from the cabin immediately upon landing. According to the witness, “They were waiting there as we got off.”

Ryanair — an Irish budget carrier and Europe’s largest short-haul airline — issued a statement this week addressing the incident.

“The crew of this flight from Newcastle to Alicante requested police assistance upon arrival after a passenger became disruptive inflight. The aircraft landed normally and the passenger was met by police,” the airline said. “We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This passenger has been banned from flying with Ryanair and this is now a matter for local police.”

The carrier added, “This is exactly why we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, such as a two-drink limit per passenger and no alcohol sales before 10am.”

Ryanair has been a vocal proponent of the crackdown on alcohol sales at airports and before flights. Amid a hike in arrests pertaining to alcohol-related incidents, the airline called for a ban on early morning alcohol sales in addition to a cap on the number of drinks that passengers can order at airports, the Guardian reported last month.

“It’s completely unfair that airports can profit from the unlimited sale of alcohol to passengers and leave the airlines to deal with the safety consequences,” Kenny Jacobs, Ryanair’s marketing director, said in a statement at the time.

He added: “This is an issue which the airports must now address and we are calling for significant changes to prohibit the sale of alcohol at airports, particularly with early morning flights and when flights are delayed.”

NOTE: An earlier version of this story referred to the banned passenger as a woman. It was not immediately clear whether the person banned from the airline was a man or a woman.