Incidents involving unruly passengers on flights from IAA-certified airlines rose to 1,432 last year, a 226pc increase compared to 2023.
Unruly passengers ranked as the second most common source of potential safety incidents, following bird strikes with 1,650 events reported. Difficult passenger incidents were mostly categorised with the lowest safety risk classification despite the rising numbers.
Air traffic management issues were the third most reported category, with an increase in GPS interference cases and a jump in airborne deviation rates. The IAA reported that over 98pc of flights operated under its oversight passed without any significant safety occurrences.
Declan Fitzpatrick shared, “The number of accidents in commercial air transport increased globally last year, 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.”
