Two Russian men have been arrested and charged after becoming drunk and unruly on an EasyJet flight from Manchester to Turkey, authorities have said.
The two men, aged 48 and 39, were so disruptive that the flight had to be diverted to Greece early on Sunday.
The passengers started shouting at other passengers and crew, AP reports.
The pair were arrested after the plane, on a scheduled flight from Manchester to Dalaman in southwestern Turkey, touched down in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki.
They faced a prosecutor who charged them with disturbing the peace, disrupting transport and disobeying the crew’s instructions.
There was no physical altercation, authorities said.
After they were charged, the two men were released pending trial, which will take place in November.
They are not obligated to attend, but will be represented by their lawyers.
Having arrived in Greece without a visa, they were led to a police precinct but were expected to be put on a flight to Turkey later on Sunday.
It’s not the first time EasyJet has had to divert a flight over drunken behaviour.
In 2017 a late-night flight from Barcelona to Liverpool was forced to divert to Bristol and a passenger was charged over disorderly behaviour.
A year later Ryanair called for an airport booze ban before 10am after an Ibiza bound plane was forced to divert to Paris.
EasyJet told the Standard: “EasyJet can confirm that flight EZY2147 from Manchester to Dalaman on June 24 diverted to Thessaloniki and was met by police due to two passengers behaving disruptively onboard. The flight continued to Dalaman after refuelling.
“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.”
