MANILA, Philippines – An “unruly” Filipino passenger, said to be one of the country’s special envoys, was off-loaded, on Monday, from a Hong Kong-bound flight of Cathay Pacific.
In an air safety and hazard report filed with the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), Cathay Pacific did not name the male passenger of CX flight 900, who has been identified by some Ninoy Aquino International Airport insiders claimed as “also an official of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”
The Cathay Pacific flight was supposed to leave the Ninoy Aquino International Airport’s Terminal 1 at 12:30 p.m. The incident delayed the plane’s departure for about an hour.
In its report to the CAAP, the airline disclosed that the “unruly passenger would not obey any commands from cabin crew’s verbal warning…Warning given but to no avail…(Plane) returned to bay to offload passenger.”
According to Cathay Pacific, the passenger “was repeatedly asked to fasten seat belt but he refused and then during the taxi back to the (NAIA Terminal 1) bay, he climbed the stairs to the upper deck (of the Boeing 747 plane) to gain entry to the cockpit. He was prevented from doing so by cabin crew.”
The same passenger was brought to the CAAP office, located near NAIA Terminal 1, where he was briefly interrogated and later released.
It was not immediately known if Cathay Pacific and CAAP would file charges against the passenger.
Both the MIAA Public Affairs Office and the Philippine National Police office at NAIA said the incident had yet to be officially reported to them.