Five passengers removed from flight at Tashkent airport after an attack on flight attendant

On December 8, due to heavy fog, the international airports of Namangan and Fergana were closed for aircrafts. In connection with that the Uzbekistan Airways Boeing 757 en route Moscow-Namangan (HY-620 flight), landed by the decision of the aircraft’s commander at the Tashkent International Airport at 17:41 by the local time, the company said.

Due to the fact that the weather conditions at the Namangan airport did not improve for a long time, passengers expressed a desire to independently reach their destination by land transport. According to the airline’s rules, appropriate monetary compensation was issued to reimburse transportation costs to Namangan. 

Passengers with a large amount of oversized baggage were offered by the airline to fly to their final destination by the next flight. 37 people agreed to fly to Namangan by the flight HY-095 at 08:25 on December 9. 

Due to continuing bad weather conditions at the Namangan airport, the departure of the flight HY-095 en route Tashkent-Namangan was postponed to 10:00, then to 12:00 and then to 14:00. 

According to the airline, while waiting for the flight to Namangan, passengers were placed in the waiting room of the international airport terminal, where they were twice provided with hot meals. On December 9 at 07:00, passengers were delivered to the local airline terminal to depart for Namangan. 

“The delay of the flight was due to the repeated deterioration of weather conditions at the Namangan airport. Some passengers reacted aggressively to the situation, demanded that the plane should depart to Namangan as soon as possible, regardless of the weather,” the company said. 

As soon as information was received about the opening of the Namangan airport, the commander decided to fly out and the boarding of passengers was announced. 

“After boarding the plane, few aggressive passengers attacked the senior flight attendant. Five passengers were taken off the flight by the Linear Police Department,” the report said.

It is noted that all this time “the management, specialists of the commercial department and ground handling department of Uzbekistan Airways were at the airport. They carried out explanatory work and were in direct contact with passengers. All necessary measures were taken to serve passengers”.