Seven Brits chucked off Jet2 flight after punch-up forces emergency landing

Seven British men were bundled off a Jet2 flight by police after the captain was forced to make an emergency landing because they started punching each other.

Witnesses say one man spat in a woman’s eye during the fight which involved two groups travelling from Manchester to Tenerife on Thursday.

The fight is said to have started around two hours after the 5.35pm take-off, when a group of four ‘lads’ started punching each other before the plane was diverted to Faro, Portugal.

An air stewardess broke up the initial fight and seated one man at the front of the plane in an effort to calm tensions, as onlookers shouted abuse at the instigators.

Minutes later, witnesses say the man vaulted back to the group – where things kicked off again.

Other passengers tried to break up the fight, which is when one of the men is alleged to have spat in a woman’s eye.

On video filmed inside the plane, a girl is heard to shriek as another woman says: ‘There’s children on the airplane.’

A man then shouts: ‘He f****** spat on a woman – dirty b*******.’

Nathan Belford, 30, said a 10-man stag party then ‘howled with rage’ as the captain announced plans to divert the plane, before picking a fight with both cabin crew and the group of four.

He said the stag party ‘complained bitterly to the stewardess’ and even ‘started pinching drinks from the front of the plane’.

Landing in Portugal at around 8pm, security bundled seven men – all from the four-man group and three from the stag party – off the plane.

Nathan, of Stoke-on-Trent, explained: ‘We couldn’t believe what was happening. We just wanted to go on holiday.’

He added: ‘Things first kicked off when the group at the back got into a fight. Punches were thrown, and the stewardess broke them up.

‘But then they kicked off again, and passengers actually intervened… One woman got in the way, but a guy spat in her eye. It was disgusting.’

Nathan said security were ‘impressive’ in removing the troublemakers from the flight, adding: ‘One of the guys they had to carry off was at least six-foot-six.’

The plane completed its journey to Tenerife some hours later.

Jet2 confirmed a row between passengers had erupted, saying: ‘As a family friendly airline we will not tolerate disruptive behaviour of any sort.

‘As such we will always take the appropriate action to ensure that our passengers and staff do not have to endure the unacceptable actions of a small minority.

‘We take this matter very seriously and we are liaising with the relevant authorities.’