“We can confirm that the two disruptive passengers will be banned from flying with us for life," the airline said
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NEED TO KNOW
- A Jet2 flight from Turkey to Britain was forced to divert to Brussels after a fight broke out between passengers
- One eyewitness claimed that the conflict began after one of the travelers allegedly began making “racist remarks”
- The two passengers are now “banned” from Jet2 flights, the airline said in a statement
A Jet2 flight was forced to divert mid-air after a fight broke out between passengers.
On Thursday, Feb. 12, the aircraft, traveling from Turkey to Britain, was forced to land in Brussels, due to what the airline described as "appalling behaviour" from "two disruptive passengers."
“They were both offloaded by police in Brussels, and the flight continued to Manchester," a spokesperson for Jet2 said in a statement to PEOPLE.
“We can confirm that the two disruptive passengers will be banned from flying with us for life, and we will also vigorously pursue them to recover the costs that we incurred as a result of this diversion,” the statement continued.
“As a family-friendly airline, we take a zero-tolerance approach to disruptive passenger behavior, and we are very sorry that other customers and our colleagues onboard had to experience this too," the Jet2 spokesperson added.
It is unclear why the two passengers, who have not been publicly identified, got into the airplane altercation.
However, one eyewitness claimed that the conflict began after one of the passengers allegedly began making “racist remarks.”
“What should have been a straightforward journey turned into one of the most distressing experiences we’ve had,” the witness wrote online, per The Sun. “From early on in the flight, a passenger seated behind us began making racist remarks, quiet enough that others couldn’t clearly hear, but loud enough for us to.”
“We chose to ignore it at first. But it didn’t stop. It escalated,” the traveler continued, adding that one passenger then allegedly "became confrontational, intimidating, and openly racist towards the Pakistani passengers around him."
"The flight attendants repeatedly tried to calm the situation, but he continued to be hostile and aggressive," the eyewitness further claimed, per The Sun.
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In one video of the incident shared online, numerous travelers can be seen getting into a heated altercation.
At one point, a full brawl breaks out, as one man is dragged over the airplane seats while terrified passengers scream in horror.
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