Joshua Parfitt
BOOZY Benidorm-bound Brits are back in the spotlight after figures revealed they have made Alicante airport Spain’s most disruptive destination.
Alicante’s main El Altet airport received 216 criminal complaints this year due to rowdy, drunk and abusive passengers flying to the Costa Blanca.
And British flyers were behind 163 – or 75% – of these complaints, according to Spain’s air safety agency AESA.
The numbers contrast wildly with just eight denuncias made against Spanish nationals – the second-most complained about nation – followed by Italy with seven.
The aggressive holidaymakers also turned Alicante’s El Altet airport into Spain’s no. 1 for disruptive passenger removals, with 31 this year.
A spokesperson for AESA said ‘disruptive-inappropriate-conflicting passengers’ can cause the diversion of an aircraft and, by extension, affect safety.
Bad behaviour is now a sanctionable offence for passengers flying to Spain, with fines up to €5,000 meted out to offenders.
Since 2017 a total of 729 people have been fined, adding €580,300 to Spanish coffers.
And no surprises that Brits were the most-fined nation with 311, followed by 153 Spaniards and 103 Germans.
AESA have reportedly made a video about the dangerous of drunk and disruptive behaviour on board a Spain-bound aircraft, and plan to release it in English in the United Kingdom.
