A flight from Majorca was forced to divert to France after a Brit couple became embroiled in a heated argument on the plane that saw the man arrested and the woman assaulted mid-air.
The Majorcan Pontent de Palma rugby club were forced to make an emergency landing in Nantes, France while flying home from a Dublin training camp on Saturday after the screaming match broke out.
The group of teenagers, aged between 14 and 15, had been on board the Aer Lingus flight with their parents and other passengers as the aircraft cruised over Nantes.
But the argument continued to escalate, forcing cabin crew to step in, in an effort to break up the fight.
With their efforts to calm and control the situation failing, the couple carried on fighting until an alleged physical assault took place.
An Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Majorca was forced to land in France after a Brit couple’s argument got out of hand
The man was arrested as soon as the plane landed in Nantes, and the woman was led off the aircraft by medics and officers so she could be treated for her injuries
Passengers quickly realised something had happened on board after they spotted the woman making her way down the central aisle of the plane, surrounded by stewardesses with her face covered.
The pilot was informed of the incident and after reporting it to the control tower, was ordered to make an unscheduled emergency landing at Nantes Airport.
When the plane had landed, the alleged male assailant was arrested for domestic violence and for causing injury, according to Ultima Hora.
Several officers flooded the cockpit to apprehend the man, while the woman was led off the aircraft my cops and medics to be treated for her facial injuries.
The flight resumed some hours later without any further incidents, local media has stated.
Aer Lingus has been approached for comment.
It comes after An easyJet plane bound for London had to turn back to Faro and make an emergency landing hours after a co-pilot for the low cost airline fainted en route to Lisbon.
The aircraft with 161 passengers on board was understood to have hit a bird shortly after take-off on Saturday afternoon.
The incident was understood to have triggered a ‘red code’ alert at the Algarve airport with emergency response vehicles being mobilised although the plane landed safely.
It reportedly spent 25 minutes burning fuel over the ocean before landing.
The incident happened hours after a co-pilot on an easyJet plane heading from London to Lisbon with 193 passengers on board reportedly fainted and had to be taken to hospital after arrival.
It was not immediately clear what airport the plane had left from, although it was thought to have been London Luton.
Local reports said the pilot landed the aircraft without any problems and his colleague was attended to by paramedics on the runway before being taken to Lisbon’s Santa Maria Hospital.
Speaking about the pilot reportedly fainting, retired Portuguese pilot Jose Correia Guedes said on X: ‘Incapacitation cases are a plague of modern times.
‘In 37 years of activity of TAP I have known only one case. Today it is a rare week that a plane does not make an emergency landing for this reason.
A Ryanair plane had to make an emergency landing at Faro Airport last December after the pilot fell ill.
The aircraft was heading from London Stansted to Morocco.
