Aggressive Jet2 passenger hit with £5,000 fine and lifetime airline ban after forcing plane to divert

Jet2 has hit a disruptive passenger who forced one of its flights to divert with a £5,000 bill and banned her from flying with the airline for life.

The carrier named the aggressive woman, who shouted at crew and slapped fellow passengers on Monday’s flight from Manchester to Antalya, as Catherine Bush.

“Ms Bush, from Bradford, displayed a catalogue of aggressive, abusive and dangerous behaviour onboard the aircraft, which included physical aggression towards other customers and our crew,” read a statement from Jet2 this morning.

Flight LS895 left Manchester shortly after 9am on Monday, for a planned 4hr 30m flight to Turkey - but was forced to divert two hours in after the woman became violent, landing in Vienna at 11.38am.

Video later emerged of fellow passengers clapping and cheering as Ms Bush was led off the plane by officers at Antalya airport.

A fellow traveller who did not want to be named told Manchester Evening News that the disruptive woman started making a fuss “about an hour and 20 minutes” into the flight, adding: “There was lots of noise.”

“Then she came to the front of the plane. She was really angry towards Jet2 staff and wouldn’t calm down. Her voice was getting louder and more aggressive - she was shouting in people’s faces,”

“A customer said something and she slapped him in the face. Then a man got up to try and calm the situation before taking her to the back of the plane.”

Jet2’s managing director Phil Ward said: “Ms Bush displayed a continued pattern of appalling behaviour on the flight and she must now face up to the consequences of her actions.

“We have always made it abundantly clear that, as a family friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to such behaviour and that we will vigorously pursue any costs incurred as a result of such an incident.

“Although such incidents are very rare, it is unacceptable that our customers and crew should have to experience it.

“We would like to apologise to anyone who had to experience this behaviour and we would like to commend our highly-trained crew for their exceptional handling of this difficult situation.”