'Unruly’ Teen Passenger Arrested After Allegedly Causing Flight to Be Diverted
The incident caused the flight to land at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, according to a news release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Getty
Stock image of a cabin view of an Air Canada flightA flight traveling to Calgary, Canada, from Toronto on Wednesday had to be diverted after a 16-year-old male allegedly assaulted his family member.
The incident caused Air Canada Flight 137 to divert from its original travel plan and land at Winnipeg Richardson International Airport, according to a news release from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, teen was arrested after being restrained by airline employees and passengers and was transported to the hospital for medical evaluation, per the release.
Getty
Stock image of a passport and boarding passWhile no other passengers required medical assistance, the victim — described as an "adult male passenger" — was treated at the scene for "minor physical injuries."
PEOPLE has reached out to Air Canada for comment.
The International Air Transport Association categorizes unruly passenger cases as "incidents that involve violence against crew and other passengers, harassment, and failure to comply with safety and public health instructions."
"Committed by a minority of passengers, unruly incidents have a disproportionate impact, threatening safety, disrupting other passengers and crew, and causing delays and diversions," the IATA adds on its website.
According to Airlines magazine, intoxication, verbal abuse, and non-compliance have been reported as the most common incidents in unruly passenger cases.
Getty
Stock image of the bottom of an airplane"There was one incident reported for every 568 flights in 2022, up from one per 835 flights in 2021," the outlet reported in August. Incidents of physical abuse have remained rare but had an "alarming increase of 61% over 2021, occurring once every 17,200 flights," according to the outlet.
Air Canada made headlines recently after aviation analytics firm Cirium ranked them last in a report of the worst on-time performance from major North American airlines.
Airlines, including Delta, United, and Southwest, were also on their list. The airline responded to the report in a statement to Now Toronto.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
"…Our operation has been consistently improving so that by year end our monthly on-time performance showed a double-digit improvement over July, a significant increase. Our focus remains on further raising on-time performance (OTP) this year," their statement read.
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
