Rules about wearing face masks on flights have driven a surge in the numbers of unruly passengers, according to aviation body Iata.
It said the rate of incidents doubled in 2020 and that trend is continuing in 2021.
In an informal Iata survey, one member airline reported more than 1,000 incidents of non-compliance in a single week.
Another calculated a 55% increase in unruly passenger incidents based on the numbers carried.
The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) in the US had more than 4,600 incident reports between January and early October 2021, of which 72% related to a refusal to comply with the federal mandate to wear a mask.
Tim Colehan, Iata’s government and industry affairs assistant director, said the “complex set of new health rules” means some increase in non-compliance was “inevitable”.
“One explanation for the hike in incidents is that the context has changed,” he added.
“Not wearing a mask is arguably no different to not wearing a seatbelt or not putting your laptop away. They involve a failure to follow instructions.
“But because of the pandemic and the public health implications, not wearing a mask makes it much more personal and has caused confrontation between passengers.”
The US has a zero-tolerance policy and FAA fines have topped $1 million since the beginning of 2021.
Iata is calling on governments to solve the “legal gaps” about which state has jurisdiction over unruly passengers.
The Montreal Protocol 2014 (MP14) gives jurisdiction to the country in which an aircraft lands. It is expected that the UK and the United Arab Emirates will be next to ratify the agreement, meaning that a third of international traffic will soon be covered by MP14.
Colehan said it is “important” that all countries ratify MP14, although many, such as the UK, US, Australia and France, already have provisions in their national laws to allow prosecution of unruly passengers irrespective of where the aircraft was registered.
The problem of unruly passengers will be discussed at an online Iata cabin safety conference on December 7-8.
Picture by Andrey Popov/Shutterstock.