from Statista.com
— this post authored by Niall McCarthy
Airlines in the United States have reported a dramatic increase in incidents involving unruly passengers this year, mainly as a result of aggressive behavior in response to changes introduced during the pandemic. The FAA reported 3,000 cases of disruptive passengers up to May 25 with the bulk of them, around 2,300, involving people refusing to wear a mask.
Please share this article – Go to very top of page, right hand side, for social media buttons.
FAA investigations into potential federal law violations where passengers interfered with the duties of crewmembers have reached their higest level since records began in 1995, just five months into 2021. The FAA states that it was carrying out 394 such investigations as of May 25 of this year, a figure that is more than double 2020 and two and a half times as high as in 2019.
FAA chief Steve Dickson told ABC News last month that “in a typical year, the agency will end up taking this type of enforcement action in about 100 to 160 enforcement cases to it’s nothing new”, before adding that “what is really new is the volume that we’re seeing right now”. Worryingly, in addition to the number of incidents increasing, they are also becoming more violent. The situation has prompted airlines including Southwest and American to temporarily ban alcohol sales, though the latter still serves first class passengers when the aircraft is airborne. Southwest currently has no plan to start serving alcohol again while American Airlines plans to do so in the main cabin when the federal mask mandate expires on September 13.
You will find more infographics at Statista.
Caption photo credit: Clip from photo by RODNAE Productions, Pexels. Full image:
.
