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A transatlantic long haul flight had to divert to a small US airport after two seemingly drunk passengers “became disruptive” in the cabin, triggering a “Level 3” warning.
United Airlines flight UA883, which was travelling from London Heathrow Airport in the UK to New York’s Newark Airport, made an emergency landing in the small city of Bangor, Maine, close to the Canadian border, on Friday.
“Law enforcement officials removed the two passengers and the flight has already re-departed for Newark Liberty International Airport,” United Airlines told The New York Post.
Video posted on Twitter by Jewish news service Kol Haolom shows uniformed officers on board the aircraft lifting an unidentified man out of his seat as his fellow passengers cheer and applaud.
A separate video posted by the outlet shows officers carrying a man — who appears bound by his hands and feet — down a set of mobile runway stairs and into a police SUV.
The incident that led up to the passengers’ removal was not shown in the video.
“Members of the Bangor Police Department Airport Division assisted Customs and Border Protection and the FBI when an international flight diverted to the Bangor International Airport this morning,” Bangor Police said in a statement.
“Two passengers were removed from the plane and CBP and FBI are handling the investigation.”
The emergency landing was attributed to a “passenger disturbance” by the FAA.
The flight took off from London at 7.52am and landed at Bangor International Airport at 9.59am — nearly 90 minutes before it was scheduled to arrive at Newark, New Jersey, according to tracking website Flight Aware.
The Boeing 767 was back in the air en route to Newark shortly before noon.
The plane was carrying several observant Jews, who will now arrive in New Jersey just in time to observe Shabbat, or Shabbos, which begins at sundown, Kol Haolom wrote.
The two customers who prompted the emergency landing will be banned from future United flights while the incident is under review, the airline told The Post.
A Level 3 warning in an aircraft typically involves life-threatening behaviour or display of a weapon.
Bangor International Airport did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for a comment on the incident.
This story first appeared in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.
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