16 Drunken Passengers Escorted Off a Jetstar Plane

23rd Feb 2016

16 passengers, believed to be members of the Irish football and hurling teams, were escorted off the Jetstar plane this morning at the Melbourne Airport for drunken and disorderly behaviour. The plane was headed to Sydney.

After the flight crew decided to escort the intoxicated passengers, the plane was delayed for nearly 80 minutes. Only once all of them were walked off the plane and some of their friends and partners joined them, could the rest of the passengers continue their journey.

The plane was scheduled to depart at 7:40 PM, but took off at 9:00 PM.

According to the Australian The Herald Sun, some of the passengers were members of the Michael Cusacks Hurlers team from Sydney and were celebrating a recent win at the Padraig Pearses GAC 7-a-side tournament held this Sunday at the Gaelic Park.

Once they had the intoxicated passengers off the plane, flight attendants contacted the Australian Federal Police, who sent a couple of its officers to the Melbourne Airport's domestic departure gate.

However, according to a spokesman for the AFP, no charges have been laid against the 16 passengers as of this moment.

The spokesman also said:

"This is a timely reminder for the public to remember that when travelling on an aircraft within Australia, you are bound by Australian laws."

The Sydney Gaelic Athletic Association (SGAA) said it will look into the incident, so it's a strong possibility that the SGAA will take action against the members of its team involved in it.

One of the passengers sitting near some of the escorted ones said he heard someone arguing outside the plane:

"We heard lots of arguing just outside the plane and then something like six federal police came on the plane and picked people out of the plane.

Speaking about the incident, a spokesperson for Jetstar said the company has a strict policy when it comes to alcohol use on its aircrafts and does not tolerate disruptive behaviour.

The spokesman said:

"We take safety and security seriously and have strict rules on alcohol use, including the right to deny boarding or offload intoxicated passengers. We don't tolerate disruptive behaviour by passengers on our flights, so our crew made a decision with the captain that a number of passengers would not travel on one of our Melbourne to Sydney services overnight.

He added:

"Unfortunately the actions of this group interrupted the travel plans of other passengers."