An Avianca Airline plane flying from Madrid, Spain to Bogota, Colombia was forced to land in San Juan, Puerto Rico after a passenger on board became violently aggressive, Colombian media reported on Wednesday.
Avianca Airline’s Flight 027 equipped with 246 passengers and 13 crew members on board landed safely at the Luis Marin International Airport in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 9:44AM after a passenger dispute forced the plane to land prematurely, according to Colombia’s Semana news magazine.
According to reports, a male passenger was in the middle of a fight with his wife when he became violent. When crew members attempted to intervene, the passenger then became even more aggressive.
The flight crew was unable to detain the enraged passenger, forcing the pilot to derive from intended course.
A communication from Avianca Airlines read, “The procedures framed in security protocols established for this type of situation were used before the inappropriate behavior of the passenger on board,” according to Semana.
After turning the passenger over to authorities in San Juan, the plane continued on its path to Bogota.