A passenger was removed by authorities from a transit flight at Shannon Airport after she was reported to be drunk and aggressive.
Nordwind flight NS353 was travelling from Moscow, Russia to Varadero in Cuba at the time and was due to make a planned refuelling stop at Shannon.
Shortly before the Boeing 777-200(ER) jet was due to land, the flight crew advised air traffic controllers that they had an ‘unruly’ passenger on board and requested the ‘police’ to be standing by for their arrival.
The flight landed at Shannon at 1.40pm and taxied to the terminal where airport police officers and Gardaí from Shannon station were waiting.
A 25-year-old woman, understood to be a Russian national, was removed from the aircraft but was not arrested as the alleged incident occurred outside of Irish airspace. It’s also understood that the plane’s crew made no formal complaint to Gardaí and just requested that the passenger be removed from the plane.
An airport source said: “The captain wanted the passenger removed from the aircraft before the flight could continue to its journey. The passenger was taken off the plane and escorted from the airport. The flight was due to make a technical stop here at the time.”
A Garda spokesperson confirmed: “The captain requested that a passenger be offloaded from the aircraft on arrival at Shannon. Gardaí attended at the airport but no arrest was made.”
It’s understood that as the incident occurred outside of Irish airspace, authorities here have no jurisdiction. However, if the passenger engaged in any unlawful behaviour after the jet had entered Irish airspace or on the ground at Shannon, she would have been arrested if a complaint had been forthcoming.
The flight resumed its journey to Varadero at 4.30pm.
