Alleged air rage woman to appear in court today

A WOMAN in her early 30s is expected to appear in court today after allegedly attacking an attendant on a transatlantic flight which landed at Shannon Airport.

During the flight, the passenger, from Limerick, is said to have assaulted a member of the cabin crew. This resulted in the captain contacting air traffic controllers at the airport and requesting that gardaí meet the plane when it touched down yesterday morning.

“We were informed that the woman became disruptive onboard. We were asked to meet the flight when it came into the airport at 7.20am,” a garda spokesman said.

He said gardaí spoke to the Aer Lingus cabin crew and to the captain before they arrested the 32-year-old woman onboard the plane.

There were 280 passengers on the Aer Lingus A330 Airbus at the time and the flight had come in from New York.

The woman was then taken to Shannon Garda Station where she was questioned and then charged with assault under Section 2 of the Non-fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

She was also charged with disruptive behaviour under the Air Navigation and Transport Amendment Act 1998.

The woman was then released on her own bail and is expected to appear before Killaloe District Court at 11am today.

Gardaí said that, although the woman was originally from the Limerick area, they understood that she had been living in the California region for a number of years.

A garda spokesman said this was the third time this year they had been called to the airport to deal with allegedly disruptive

passengers on flights.