A routine flight turned into a nightmare in the skies after a large-scale altercation erupted among passengers. The mid-air brawl, which involved around 10 passengers, left the crew scrambling to restore order, forcing the Liverpool-bound easyJet plane back to its departure airport.
In a statement to Sky News, the air traffic controller said, "Due to the danger" the violence "posed to the safety of the flight", the captain had no other option but to return to the Spanish island around 30 minutes after departure.
On the evening of July 21, flight EZY3352 touched down at Tenerife South Airport and was met by police at the request of the crew. The pilot had to abandon the journey and return to Tenerife "due to a group of passengers behaving disruptively," easyJet said in a statement, adding that the airline takes "these incidents very seriously" and does not tolerate disruptive behavior towards its staff.
The 186-passenger aircraft continued on to Liverpool after the troublesome passengers were removed by police, Sky News reports.
According to the report, all those involved were British. And Aero Saga understands that the Spanish Civil Guard made no arrests. Eventually, according to Flightradar24 data, the flight touched down in Liverpool at 2:19 a.m., an hour and 54 minutes after its scheduled arrival time.
Incidents in which airline passengers disrupt flights are an ongoing problem. And so far in 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency that investigates unruly passenger incidents, has received 949 reports of unruly passengers.
