§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions how many planes flying into and out of the UK had to be diverted from their scheduled destination airport as a consequence of air rage in each year since 1995; and what was the estimated cost to the NATS in each case. [116880]
§ Mr. MullinWhile comprehensive data on "air rage" incidents are not available for the whole of that period, data collected by the Mandatory Occurrence Reporting scheme are given in the table. Mandatory Occurrence Reports are required for all incidents which affect or could422W affect the safety of a UK registered aircraft, but may not include diversions caused by incidents where safety was not at risk. There is no cost to NATS resulting from such diversions.
UK registered aircraft flying into and out of the UK diverted as a consequence of "air rage" Year Number 1995 2 1996 1 1997 4 1998 8 1999 6 Data in relation to non-UK registered aircraft are available only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) how many incidents of air rage were reported in the last five years which involved passengers travelling(a) first-class, (b) business class and (c) by Concorde; [116687]
(2) if he will list the airlines reporting cases classified as air rage in each year since 1995, indicating for each airline the number of incidents. [116685]
§ Mr. MullinComprehensive data on disruptive incidents occurring on UK airlines have been collected only since April 1999. When initiating the reporting scheme my Department and the CAA undertook to respect the confidentiality of airlines submitting commercially sensitive information. The analysis published in February, therefore, does not include any data that could identify a specific carrier or aircraft type. The data collected show that, in the period April to October 1999, 47 incidents involved first or business class passengers.