Air rage in figures

A current survey by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) shows

a fivefold increase in incidents. In 1994 there were 1,132 incidents. In

1997, there were 5,416 incidents.

According to the US Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), a confidential

reporting system for US airline crews, unruly passenger reports have

increased by around 800 per cent. In 1997, there were 66 reported incidents.

In 1999, there were 534.

Most statistics are likely to underestimate the problem as they only rarely

include incidents of threatening behaviour that do not include physical

violence. Australian airlines began reporting incidents in 1998 for the first

time. In 1999, about 650 occurrences were recorded. In the previous year,

when only actual violence was recorded, the figure had been 30.