Saudi Gazette report JEDDAH — A drunken passenger who forced an Emirates flight from Dubai to Alexandria to make an emergency landing at King Abdulaziz International Airport (KAIA) will be tried in Jeddah on Feb. 22 on charges of drinking alcohol. A local press report on Tuesday did not identify the passenger but said he was an Egyptian navy officer. According to a source at the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA), the incident took place on Nov. 26 and the aircraft had to make an emergency landing at KAIA to evict the drunken passenger. According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the passenger asked a flight attendant for a cup full of ice cubes because he wanted to drink from a bottle of alcohol he had bought from duty-free in Dubai airport. When the flight attendant refused to respond to his request, the passenger started getting aggressive. When the crew tried to pacify him, the passenger then got violent. After all attempts to control him failed, the pilot asked for permission to make an emergency landing in Jeddah to hand him over to Saudi airport security staff. The attendant said she was preparing the food trolley 15 minutes after take off when the passenger called her and asked her for the ice cubes. When she refused to respond to his request, he started abusing her. He also kicked the seat of the passenger sitting in front of him. The attendant said a female passenger who was sitting near him was very scared and wanted to change seats. The man noticed this and refused to allow her to leave her place. The attendant said the passenger pushed her and the trolley to go to the toilet and when he came out he slapped her in the face. She said the captain asked the crew to tie him to his seat until they could land in Jeddah and hand him over to airport security. The GACA source said after landing the passenger was examined for alcohol and kept in custody pending his trial. He said Saudi laws prevent the consumption of alcohol over the Kingdom's airspace and added that the Egyptian passenger would be tried for this offense. He also said Emirates has the right to sue him for damages. The source said European flights, in which alcohol is permitted, are prevented from serving liquor while passing over the Kingdom's airspace. He said if a Saudi Arabian Airlines pilot is found to be drunk while landing in any of the Kingdom's airports he would immediately be sacked. “If a pilot of a foreign flight does this he will be barred from flying to the Kingdom for life,” he added.
