§ Mr. BrakeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if the Government will introduce legislation to ban the consumption of passengers' own alcohol in flight. [58416]
§ Ms Glenda Jackson[holding answer 5 November 1998]: The Government have no plans to introduce such legislation.
The problem of drunken passengers is already dealt with in the Air Navigation (No 2) Order 1995. This makes it an offence to enter an aircraft while drunk, to be drunk on an aircraft and to endanger the safety of an aircraft or any person therein. This legislation applies to UK registered aircraft regardless of where in the world they are and to foreign aircraft in UK airspace or whose next landing is in the UK. In addition, the commander of an UK registered aircraft may require a passenger not to consume alcohol if it appears that he is likely to become drunk. Failure to comply with the lawful commands of the aircraft commander is an offence.
More generally, there are various actions which the airlines themselves can take to deal with the problem of potentially disruptive passengers and my right hon. Friend the Minister of Transport will be discussing these options with the airlines shortly.