An EasyJet flight from Manchester to Tenerife had to divert to the tiny island of Porto Santo after a “drunk” couple started rowing on board.
Local reports said the pilot made the decision and radioed ahead to police because he felt they were putting air safety at risk.
The couple were removed from the plane by officers from Portugal’s PSP force and immigration officials before the flight continued its journey to the Canaries around an hour later.
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The drama occurred yesterday afternoon (Thursday), around three hours after the 2pm take-off from Manchester.
The plane landed on Porto Santo, a Portuguese island 27 miles northeast of Madeira in the North Atlantic Ocean, just after 6pm local time. It took off again for Tenerife South around 7pm after the two troublesome passengers were removed from the plane.
Their nationalities have not yet been made public.
In September, a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Tenerife was also diverted to Porto Santo and four passengers removed after a fight broke out on board.
Reports at the time said a man described as being “rotten drunk” urinated on a seat.
A passenger on the flight said the man was intimidating staff and passengers and a woman on board punched another traveller and had to be restrained in her seat.
In 2018, a drunk couple also forced another Ryanair plane doing the same route to make an unscheduled stop on Porto Santo so they could be handed over to police and left on the island.
Last month a "drunk" woman was arrested after a packed plane from Gatwick to Madeira’s capital Funchal was forced to divert to Lisbon.
Police were filmed boarding the Wizz Air flight to take her away amid local reports she had jeopardised the safety of the aircraft by assaulting crew and other passengers.
Quoting a Portuguese passenger, Funchal-based paper Jornal da Madeira reported at the time: “We were diverted to Lisbon because of a drunk female passenger who began to assault other passengers.
“She also assaulted crew as well.”
"EasyJet can confirm that the flight EZY1903 from Manchester to Tenerife on 22 December diverted to Porto Santo and was met by police due to two passengers behaving disruptively onboard," a spokesman said.
"EasyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.
"Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour onboard. The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always easyJet's priority.”
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