Incidents of air rage tripled last year after the ending of UK Covid-19 travel restrictions led to a surge in overseas trips.
New figures reported by Sky News show 373 incidents reported in pre-pandemic 2019, a figure consistent with the numbers over the previous few years.
While cases fell during Covid, they soared to 1,028 in 2022.
The increase was said to be largely down to better reporting from one unnamed specific airline and the impact of mask requirements.
Incidents were reported to include mass brawls, sexual assaults, physical violence, drunken threats, verbal abuse and passengers stripping off.
Conservative MP for Dartford, Gareth Johnson, wants a change in the law to deal with the increasing numbers and is introducing a 10 Minute Rule Bill on the issue in the House of Commons on May 24.
He told Sky News: ”This bill aims to ensure that violent people who cause mayhem on aeroplanes are actually banned from flying for a specific period of time by a court.
“The difficulty that we have currently is that someone can be violent on a particular operator’s aeroplane and then that operator cannot pass that information on to another operator. So that person can just go and fly with a different operator.
“At the moment violence is very rare, but if you introduce this legislation, this will make it even less likely to happen.
“It is right that people can be banned from driving, they can be banned from being a company director and they can be banned from football matches. The same should apply for people who behave violently on planes. This power exists in other countries and should be available here too.”
UK airlines have a mandatory duty to report cases involving intoxicated, violent or unruly passengers to the Civil Aviation Authority for safety reasons.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said in response: “All passengers and crew have the right to feel safe when travelling by air.
“There is already robust legislation and powers to deal with disruptive passengers, including bans, fines and removal from flights.”
Anna Bowles, head of consumer at the CAA, added: “Passengers who are rude or aggressive can be highly disruptive and distressing for cabin crew and fellow travellers. This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and can pose a risk to aircraft safety.
“The aviation industry undertakes a range of measures to tackle this issue and passengers could face criminal charges with severe penalties, even prison, for incidents involving aggressive behaviour.”