British man held in Greece after ‘drunken brawl’ on easyJet flight

The man is currently being held in custody by Greek authorities

The easyJet plane was forced to land in Thessaloniki (Getty Images)

A British man is being held in a jail in Greece after a plane was forced to make an emergency landing due to drunken behaviour.

The 22-year-old man was on an easyJet service from London to Paphos late on Friday night when he reportedly became intoxicated and started a fight with other passengers and crew members.

The flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Thessaloniki, almost two hours short of the intended destination in Cyprus.

The man has been charged with offences, including endangering transportation and the safety of the aircraft.

Several empty bottles of alcoholic drinks were also allegedly found on his seat, Metro reported.

The man appeared in court on Saturday.

Greek authorities did not disclose the identity of the suspect but he is currently being held in custody. He will make an appearance before an examining magistrate on Monday where he is expected to enter a plea.

A spokesperson for easyJet confirmed that the flight was diverted and “was met by police on arrival due to a passenger behaving disruptively.”

They added: “easyJet’s cabin crew are trained to assess and evaluate all situations and to act quickly and appropriately to ensure that the safety of the flight and other passengers is not compromised at any time.

“While such incidents are rare, we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour towards our staff.

“The safety and wellbeing of passengers and crew is always our highest priority.”

This isn’t the only incident of a passenger’s behaviour forcing a plane to make an emergency landing this summer.

Last month, a Jet2 flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Paris when a woman in her underwear tried to gain entry into the cockpit, claiming that her parents were members of terror group Isis.

Meanwhile, last week a Southwest Airlines pilot told passengers he would be forced to turn the plane around if someone on board did not stop sending nude photographs to them via AirDrop technology.

Captured in a viral video, the captain told passengers he would “have to pull back into the gate” if the mystery culprit did not cease sending the unwelcome nudes.

“Whatever that AirDrop thing is, quit sending naked pictures, and let’s get yourselves to Cabo,” he told those onboard.