The number of incidents involving difficult and unruly passengers on commercial flights operated by airlines certified by the Irish Aviation Authority more than tripled last year, exceeding 1,400 cases, reports Breaking News.
The IAA’s latest annual safety performance report shows there were 1,432 “events” involving challenging or disruptive passengers in 2024, compared to 426 in 2023—an increase of 226 percent within a year.
Data reveals that unruly passengers were the second most frequent cause of potential safety incidents reported to the IAA in 2024, just behind bird strikes, which accounted for 1,650 incidents, reports Breaking News.
However, the report also highlights that most incidents involving difficult passengers were classified as posing the lowest level of safety risk.
The IAA noted that security-related issues ranked third in frequency in 2024, up from 11th place during 2019-2023, a rise connected to an increase in disruptive passenger incidents.
Commenting on this trend, the IAA said it “continues to reaffirm its commitment to the industry on this issue by regularly engaging with and supporting stakeholders who have signed up to the industry’s Joint Declaration on Unruly Passenger Behaviour,” reports Breaking News.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary last year called for airport passengers to be limited to two alcoholic drinks, citing concerns over the rising problem of unruly behavior onboard flights.
Mr O’Leary described violent incidents as occurring weekly, with cabin crew and other travelers being targeted by intoxicated passengers, reports Breaking News.
He said he would be willing to enforce a two-drink limit on Ryanair flights if the same restriction were applied at airport bars.
The IAA also pointed out that air traffic management (ATM) was the fourth most reported category last year, compared with 12th place over the previous five years.
The regulator said this rise in ATM events may be due to many instances of GPS interference and loss of GPS signals, reports Breaking News.
Last year, there were 558 cases logged of GPS signal interference, as well as 340 incidents of GPS system loss.
The most common type of incident involving commercial aircraft in 2024 was component failure or malfunction (2,074), followed by bird-related issues (1,707).
The safety review also recorded 243 cases of smoking in cabins or toilets last year, reports Breaking News.
Laser interference incidents remained nearly unchanged at 180, with most rated as a “medium” safety risk.
However, there were 260 cases of interference “by other activity,” including drones, reports Breaking News.
Cabin crew medical issues or incapacitations numbered 145, while pilots reported 209 fatigue-related events.
The IAA recorded 81 incidents of aircraft struck by lightning in 2024, mostly classified as medium risk.
Airlines also reported 143 cases of aircraft damage, although the majority were minor, reports Breaking News.
The figures show there was one non-fatal accident involving an Irish aircraft last year—a passenger falling from airstairs—as well as 10 serious incidents.
While this was the lowest number of accidents in five years, it represented the highest number of serious incidents over that period, reports Breaking News.
Over five years, the most common causes of accidents and serious incidents have been ground handling (nine cases), near misses or loss of separation between aircraft (seven), and component failures or malfunctions (seven).
The IAA emphasized that the likelihood of flying on an IAA-certified airline experiencing a safety occurrence remains “very low,” reports Breaking News.
In 2024, the IAA received 13,439 safety occurrence reports relating to more than 756,000 flights by approved carriers—an increase of 6 percent compared to the previous year.
“This means that just over 98 per cent of these flights passed off without any safety occurrences that required reporting to the IAA and just over 99.99 per cent of these flights passed off without being involved in an accident or serious incident,” said the IAA, reports Breaking News.
It also noted an emerging risk from drone activity, which is particularly relevant for low-level helicopter operations.
The IAA received just over 100 reports related to drone operations in 2024, including one non-fatal accident categorized as “loss of control – inflight.”
Regarding air traffic management and navigation services, the IAA observed that ground-related aircraft deviations remained high at 61 per 100,000 movements, reports Breaking News.
It also found airborne deviations reached an all-time high of 61 per 100,000 movements in 2024, while runway incursions increased to 7.8 per 100,000 movements.
IAA CEO Declan Fitzpatrick said global accidents in commercial air transport rose last year, although the long-term trend still reflects a significant decline in accident rates over two decades.
Mr Fitzpatrick identified key threats facing aviation, including disrupted air routes, uncertainty in international markets, climate change, GPS interference, and cybersecurity attacks, reports Breaking News.
He stated that the IAA’s latest review “highlighted the need for continuous vigilance and improvement in safety risk management processes at State and organisational level,” reports Breaking News.
Mr Fitzpatrick added: “The IAA continues to promote and encourage persons involved in any aspect of civil aviation to report safety concerns to their organisation or to the IAA,” reports Breaking News.
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