Government puts forward sealed bag policy to clamp down on drunken air passengers

Alcohol bought at airports may soon have to be placed in sealed plastic bags, as the Government hopes to drive out drunken disorder on plane flights.

A new sealed bag policy may be introduced in order to prevent air passengers drinking alcohol they purchased at the airport during flights, as part of the Government's new Aviation Strategy.

Duty-free stores selling alcohol would have to place any alcohol inside sealed bags which cannot be opened in-flight.

The proposed policy is a response to the roughly 420 disruptive passenger incidents that were reported to the Civil Aviation Authority last year.

In February this year, a drunk 40-year-old woman was arrested for threatening behaviour towards cabin crew after her Jet2 flight from Tenerife landed at East Midlands Airport.

A House of Lords committee suggested that the 2003 Licensing Act should be extended to shops in airports in order to tackle the problem of disruptive behaviour.

In response, an Airlines UK survey found that 80 per cent of nearly 1,900 respondents believe that airport shops that sell alcohol should be subject to the same licensing requirements as those in towns and cities.

The Government's Aviation Strategy will be put up for public consultation this autumn.