At the end of the previous month, on a turbulent flight from New Zealand to the Gold Coast, Australia, a 78-year-old woman is accused of biting a flight attendant on the arm after punching another passenger in the face.
The flight attendant was allegedly assaulted when she tried to step in during an altercation that had broken out on the flight on January 29, according to the Australian Federal Police, which made the arrest announcement.
In less than a month, covering the busy Christmas and school holiday season, 49 arrests have been made at Australia’s major airports in different incidents, according to the AFP.
Police have charged 49 persons with a total of 69 offenses that occurred between December 20 and January 29 at nine of Australia’s largest airports. Charges include assault, drug possession, and a number of offenses involving weapons.
On April 3, a judge ordered the 78-year-old lady accused of biting a flight attendant to appear in court.
Another 24 people received so-called infringement notices for minor offenses including public intoxication and disorderly conduct in addition to the criminal accusations.
One of them was a 47-year-old male who, on January 9, consumed alcohol from Duty-Free and became violent with flight attendants and passengers, forcing the jet to make a forced landing back in Sydney.
The AFP reported that it accused 360 people of over 520 offenses in 2022.
