Dubai flight delayed for nearly 5 hours due to ‘passenger disruption’; airline issues statement

A flight from Dubai was delayed due to a "passenger disruption". The Flydubai flight took off almost five hours late on Friday after the incident on board.

“The departure of Flydubai flight FZ 1807 from Dubai International (DXB) to Tel Aviv Ben Gurion (TLV) on August 25 was delayed as a result of passenger disruption,” a Flydubai spokesperson told Khaleej Times in a statement.

In a video shared on social media, an apparent disagreement between passengers seems to have caused a commotion, with many fliers held up in the aisle.

“Flydubai liaised with the relevant authorities prior to departure and the flight departed from DXB at 01:41 (local time) on August 26."

The airline also apologised for the inconvenience caused to the passengers' travel schedules. "The safety of our passengers and crew is our priority," the spokesperson added.

Equipped to deal with incidents

UAE-based airline crew members are trained on dealing with unruly passengers. In May this year, the country ratified the Montreal Protocol 2014 (MP14), a move that strengthens the global legal deterrent against unruly and disruptive passenger incidents on board flights. It grants the UAE the jurisdiction to manage unruly and disruptive passengers that land in the country, irrespective of where the aircraft is registered.

In June this year, the International Air Transport Association (Iata) had released an analysis showing that globally, reported unruly passenger incidents increased in 2022 as compared to 2021.

Latest figures show that there was one unruly incident reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one per 835 in 2021. The most common categorisations of incidents in 2022 were non-compliance, verbal abuse and intoxication. Physical abuse incidents remain "very rare".

"Passengers and crew are entitled to a safe and hassle-free experience on board. For that, passengers must comply with crew instructions. While our professional crews are well trained to manage unruly passenger scenarios, it is unacceptable that rules in place for everyone’s safety are disobeyed by a small but persistent minority of passengers. There is no excuse for not following the instructions of the crew,” Conrad Clifford, IATA’s deputy director-general, had said then.

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