Fighting drunks force Jetstar flight back to airport

Reports coming from Australia’s Northern Territory have indicated that a Jetstar flight on route to Singapore last week was forced to return to the Darwin airport as the result of a fight between drunken passengers.

Jetstar flight 61 had 172 passengers on board its service from Darwin to Singapore, and had to return to the Darwin airport approximately 30 minutes after takeoff on Thursday night.

A spokesman for Jetstar, Simon Westaway, reported that it was thought the passengers were drinking duty-free alcohol at the airport before boarding the flight, and that despite being intoxicated they passed through a number of security checkpoints.

He said that the men became “disruptive” approximately 30 minutes into the flight, making it necessary for the captain to return to the Darwin airport. “We originally contemplated having security meet them in Singapore but the captain made the decision to go back to Darwin,” Westaway noted.

This was the second flight in Australia in a week that had to be diverted due to passenger behaviour.

Federal Police waited at the Darwin airport for the plane’s return and escorted the five Malaysian passengers off the plane.

Two of the men were taken into custody and the other three were allowed to leave the airport on their own.

When Jetstar indicated that it did not want to pursue charges, the two men in custody were released.

The incident caused the flight to be delayed by around three hours.

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