Wizz Air flight from Gatwick Airport to Egypt forced to divert as 'unruly' woman removed off plane

The plane en route to Egypt was forced to divert to Greece after a “drunk” woman had to be removed mid-flight. The woman was removed after abusing the crew.

Passengers departing from London Gatwick to the Red Sea resort of Hurghada say the flight became “absolute bedlam” when the woman began moving seats and shouting at staff. The woman, who has not been named but believed to be in her 40s, is believed to have been drinking throughout most of the flight.

Two hours into the journey, the woman started to “kick off”, with the cabin crew having to try and calm down the unruly passenger. Witnesses said she started shouting “call the police”, repeatedly.

A captain later came on the tannoy to announce: “If the unruly passenger doesn't return to her eat in two minutes we are making an emergency landing.” The pilot then made an emergency landing in Athens, with police embarking the plane to escort the unruly woman off the Airbus A321.

Video footage taken onboard shows the woman leaving the plane, with one passenger heard to shout “sorry doesn’t really cut it” at her. The woman replied: “Shut your mouth.”

In a statement, Wizz Air said: “We can confirm that a passenger aboard our W9 5777 London Gatwick - Hurghada flight on the 12th of March had to be removed from the flight due to inappropriate behaviour towards our crew. This passenger's inexcusable conduct forced this flight to divert to Athens where it was delayed for a short time before going on to the destination.

“This then further disrupted the return flight from Hurghada back to London because of crew duty time limitations.” The airline said that the safety and security of those onboard is its “number one priority”.