By Abbi Garton
POLICE call-outs to Glasgow Airport as a result of passenger behaviour have soared amid a fresh crackdown on unruly travellers.
Officers have been called to the airport 243 times so far in 2017, easily exceeding the total for the whole of 2016 of 192.
Other Scottish airports have recorded decreases or slight increases but Glasgow – regarded as the country’s biggest “holiday” airport – is already 26 per cent up on last year.
An spokesman said the number of police incidents at the terminal equated to just 0.003 per cent of the total number of passengers, but that “one instance is one too many”.
There have been several reports of drunken behaviour on flights to and from Glasgow over the summer, resulting in delays and diversions.
Ryanair called for a crackdown on alcohol sales in all British airports in August, claiming airlines were being saddled with the issue of dealing with passengers who drank too much.
The new figures, released under Freedom of Information by Police Scotland, show incidents until October 14. Figures for Glasgow, which handles 9.4 million passengers a year, show there were 159 call outs in 2015 and 192 the following year.
If the rate of call-outs carries on at the present level, the airport will have summoned officers to deal with unruly passengers around 310 times by the end of the year.
In July, three passengers flying from Glasgow Airport to Alicante became drunk and disorderly, forcing the plane to make an unplanned landing at Bristol. The trio were later arrested on suspicion of threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour towards Thomson staff.
In September, two passengers’ drunken antics forced a Glasgow flight to Alicante to be delayed by three hours.
In July last year, two Canadian pilots were arrested and charged after attempting to fly an aircraft to Toronto while drunk. Jean-Francois Perreault, 40, and Imran Zafar Syed, 38, appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court for being over the limit on the Air Transnat flight.
Police have logged 103 incidents at Aberdeen Airport so far this year, down from 147 last year, and 37 at Prestwick up to October 2017, compared with 40 in 2016.
From the available figures, police have been called to Scottish airports at least 1,788 times due to passenger behaviour.
A spokesman for Glasgow Airport said: “The increase in reported incidents is a direct result of our focus on early intervention and a zero-tolerance approach in tackling disruptive behaviour of any kind.
“We have absolutely no qualms in challenging disruptive behaviour, given its potential to impact on other passengers, particularly if such an incident occurs on board an aircraft.
“Through this successful approach we will continue to send a clear message ... Glasgow Airport will not tolerate unacceptable behaviour.”
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