Two passengers on a Qatar Airways flight from Melbourne, Australia, to Doha, Qatar, got into a physical altercation with flight attendants and spat on them after becoming aggressive mid-flight, Australian broadcaster 9 News reported.
The incident happened on September 11 aboard the Qatar Airways service between the two cities. Witnesses told 9 News, a service operated by Australia's Nine Network, that around six hours into the flight, two men began behaving aggressively, repeatedly touching their own belongings and invading the personal space of passengers seated nearby.
Fight breaks out on board
As tensions escalated, the men began physically fighting with flight attendants and spat on them, according to the witness accounts cited by 9 News.
It took six people to bring the pair under control. The men were restrained and, once the aircraft landed, handed over to police officers. Passengers reportedly broke into applause as the officers came aboard to take the men away.
Qatar Airways and its Doha hub
Qatar Airways is the state-owned national carrier of Qatar, headquartered at Hamad International Airport in Doha. The airline operates long-haul flights to destinations across six continents and is a member of the Oneworld alliance, alongside carriers such as British Airways and Cathay Pacific.
Doha functions as one of the busiest transit hubs in the Middle East, with Hamad International Airport used by millions of passengers each year connecting between Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania. Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, is a major departure point for long-haul flights to the Middle East and beyond.
Unruly passengers a persistent issue
Disruptive behaviour on commercial flights, ranging from verbal disputes to physical altercations, remains one of the most common problems airlines face worldwide. Cabin crews are trained to de-escalate confrontations and, where necessary, restrain passengers until police can take over once the aircraft has landed, as happened on the Melbourne-Doha flight.
