A drunk passenger aboard a Virgin Australia flight from Brisbane to Bali prompted pilots to issue a hijack alert that disrupted air travel to and from the Indonesian resort island for hours on Friday, Indonesian and Australian authorities reported.
Indonesian troops boarded the flight after it landed at Bali’s airport in Denpasar, its original destination, and a 28-year-old Queensland man was arrested, authorities said.
Pilots issued a security alarm after the passenger began pounding on the locked cockpit door in an attempt to enter. The passenger was subdued by the flight crew, handcuffed and strapped into a rear seat of the Boeing 737-800 for the last hour of the flight, Virgin Australia airport manager Heru Sudjatmiko told Indonesia’s Metro TV.
“This is no hijacking, this is a miscommunication,” Sudjatmiko said. “There was a drunk passenger, intoxicated and aggressively behaved.”