New aviation minister Lord Ahmad has announced he will examine the way alcohol is sold at airports amid a spate of incidents on planes involving drunk passengers.
He also pledged to ensure the way in which unruly travellers are stopped from going through airport departure gates is “fit for purpose”.
Recent police statistics show hundreds of passengers were arrested on suspicion of being drunk on a plane or at an airport in the last two years.
Figures obtained following freedom of information requests showed at least 442 people were held between March 2014 and March 2016.
In an interview with the Press Association, Lord Ahmad said: “If you’re a young family travelling on a plane you want to go from point A to B, you don’t want to be disrupted.
“I don’t think we want to kill merriment altogether, but I think it’s important that passengers who board planes are also responsible and have a responsibility to other passengers, and that certainly should be the factor which we bear in mind.
“In terms of specific regulations of timings of outlets (which sell alcohol) and how they operate, clearly I want to have a look at that.”
Liverpool has had its own troubles with drunk passengers recently.
Last month bosses at John Lennon airport warned passengers about “rowdy” behaviour after 16 people who had been drinking their own alcohol were escorted off an Easyjet plane to Amsterdam .
The airline said one passenger had first become ‘very disruptive’ in the air, so the plane returned to the airport and he and his companion were met by police on the ground.
But just before the plane was about to take off again, a much larger group still on the plane then also ‘started to behave disruptively’.
And this week a man was arrested at John Lennon Airport after he was reported to be drunk and disorderly on a flight from Alicante.
The 53-year-old from West Derby was arrested on suspicion of being drunk on an aircraft after he allegedly “belched at another passenger and then fell onto a small child”.
Trade bodies representing UK airlines and airports said such incidents are “a very rare occurrence”, but warned they can lead to “serious consequences”.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of the British Air Transport Association, and Ed Anderson, chairman of the Airport Operators Association, said in a joint statement: “These incidents can be costly and cause delays.
“With air travel proving more popular than ever, and passenger numbers expected to rise across the whole of the UK in the coming years, now is the time to tackle this problem collectively.”
A code of practice on disruptive passengers was published earlier this week following collaboration between airlines, airports, the police and retailers.
The “zero tolerance” approach includes airport shops advising passengers not to drink alcohol they have purchased before or during their flight, and training staff in bars and restaurants to limit or stop the sale of alcohol to prevent or manage disruptive behaviour.
A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: “Airport security is always under review, however there are no plans to specifically address the issue of alcohol at airports.”
(culled from www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
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