The number of cases of aggressive air passengers continues to increase. The most recent case occurred in the last few hours during Avianca flight 249, which was flying from Bogotá to Sao Paulo, and which had to return to the capital of the Republic after the inappropriate behavior of two passengers who threw a cell phone, causing the device to heat up and putting the safety of the flight at risk. This is just one case of hundreds that are recorded almost daily.
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Only after the pandemic, cases of disruptive passengers have increased by 500% and that is why airlines have taken some measures to mitigate the situation, while they ask that the Congress of the Republic approve the project that seeks to severely punish these behaviors.
Regarding this issue, Avianca’s Vice President of Human Resources Paola Villota said that “We are working together to ensure that our more than 12,000 employees deliver a consistent service and that our passengers have the best travel experience. A disruptive passenger impacts safety, the delivery of service to other travelers, and the punctuality of subsequent itineraries.”.
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Bogotá, being the city that concentrates the largest air operations in the country, is the one that reports the most cases of disruptive passengers, It is estimated that more than 80 cases occur each year, followed by Cali with around 40, Medellín and Cartagena with approximately 28 and Montería with an average of 15..
For its part, the Colombian Association of Flight Attendants once again rejected this type of aggression, which not only attacks the crew and ground personnel, but also other passengers.
Airline passengers
Jaime Moreno / EL TIEMPO archive.
“These situations are worrying for all workers in the air sector due to these repetitive behaviours that put operational and physical safety at risk; the only way to control it is to ban or exclude disruptive passengers from flying again. Cabin crew members ask civil aviation to intervene and urgently regulate the restriction on disruptive passengers, since the safety and life of other passengers and crew members must take precedence over the particular interests of passengers with inappropriate behaviour.”said María Cristina Cadavid, President of the Association.
In addition, The President of the Colombian Air Workers Union, Daniel Gallo, called on all airline users in the country.
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“We want to urge all passengers to behave appropriately, to respect the rules and the ground and air workers. Unsafe acts in flight can cause death, a fall and a catastrophic incident or accident on the planes where our families travel. Situations that have occurred in different airlines nationwide have resulted in aircraft in emergency, flight cancellations and major damage due to this disruptive behavior. The call is for respect and tolerance.”.
These situations are not only on the rise in Colombia. According to IATA, the International Air Transport Association, incidents of this type have increased by more than 61% worldwide in the last year, and governments are being asked to take concrete measures and actions.
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