Category: Transport Watch

Kenneth R. Spirito, 47, the executive director of Williamsburg International Airport between 2009 and 2017, was found guilty of providing false information in order to secure loans. Spirito organised a loan of $5 million (c. £4,075,000) from TowneBank for a new airline, People Express Airline – the loan was guaranteed by the Peninsula Airport Commission (PAC). He also misapplied state funds to provide collateral for the loan. The airline stopped operating in 2014, which left the PAC liable to pay back the loan.

Gamal Elsaied Elboushi, 50, pleaded guilty to a weapons offence, stealing and assaulting a police officer at Brisbane Airport. Elboushi claimed to have a bomb and threatened to kill himself in front of his wife and children at the airport in February 2019 in an attempt to get custody of his children and to take them back to Egypt.

Matthew Flaherty, 44, was jailed for 22 months after pleading guilty to drunk and threatening behaviour on an easyJet flight from Manchester to Keflavik in January last year. Flaherty was abusive to passengers and crew, which resulted in the flight being diverted to Edinburgh. Before landing, Flaherty pulled apart his phone and chewed on it, which caused the phone battery to smoke. A flight attendant intervened and placed the phone in a glass of water to prevent a fire. Whilst at the police station, he also racially abused a police officer.

Daniel A. Pankhurst, 38, was charged with sexual assault on a Southwest Airlines flight from Seattle to Las Vegas in October last year. He is accused of touching a passenger’s inner thigh and intimidating crew members, causing the flight to be diverted to Reno.

Reports emerged that an unruly passenger case involving Katherine Heyes, 29, was referred to the crown court as the judge believed a fine was insufficient. Heyes became drunk and disruptive on a Thomas Cook flight from Manchester to Antalya in May last year. Heyes and her friends brought and consumed their own alcohol on the flight. Heyes became increasingly drunk and a passenger who attempted to calm her down was scratched in the face.

Henrietta Mitaire, 23, and her mother, Mary Roberts, 53, were accused of attacking a pilot, Captain Guido Keel, after their flight landed at London Heathrow Airport from Zurich in May last year. Mitaire was handed a four-month sentence that was suspended for a year, ordered to pay £1,500 in court costs, a £115 surcharge and £1,000 in compensation to the captain. She is also on tagged curfew for six months.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, 60, an American Airlines mechanic, was sentenced to three years for ‘recklessly’ tampering with an American Airlines aircraft’s navigation system at Miami International Airport in 2019. He tampered with two data modules by placing a foam-like material inside them. Alani alleged that he did this to gain some overtime work after he was unhappy about a stalled contract negotiation between a trade union and the airline. An error message appeared in the flight deck before take-off, stopping the pilot from flying the aircraft.

Reports emerged that Brussels Airlines initiated a lawsuit against a 25-year-old man after he hacked into their staff ticket booking system in 2016 and managed to book three free business-class flights to New York worth €6,000 (c. £5,250) each. He then cancelled the tickets, resulting in a ‘refund’, and manipulated the URL so the tickets were still valid. The airline is demanding €20,000 (c. £17,500) in compensation.

Tomasz Gabor, 42, was sentenced to two months for punching a passenger seated next to him during a Wizz Air flight from Poland to Bristol on 18 January. During the flight, Gabor became increasingly drunk on vodka.

Jake Hawkins, 24, was given a 12-month community sentence with 140 hours of unpaid work and was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £90 victim surcharge in relation to an incident at East Midlands Airport in October last year. Hawkins and nine of his friends were denied boarding a flight to Alicante due to drunk and unruly behaviour.