By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Wednesday’s directive by the U.S. attorney general Merrick Garland to federal prosecutors was for airline passengers who have committed assaults or other criminal acts aboard an aircraft.

On Nov. 4, the Federal Aviation Administration stated that it had referred over three dozen passengers who were unruly to the FBI to be investigated for criminal charges. This was in response to a dramatic increase in incidents onboard this year.

“The Department of Justice is committed to using its resources to do its part to prevent violence, intimidation, threats of violence and other criminal behavior that endangers the safety of passengers, flight crews and flight attendants on commercial aircraft,” Garland said.

The number of violent and disruptive incidents reported by U.S. airlines this year is unprecedented. This year the FAA pledged to have “zero tolerance”.

There have been 5 338 incidents reported by passengers between Nov. 23 and 23, including 3856 in relation to the pandemic facial-covering regulations. Eight airline passengers were fined $161 823 by the FAA Monday for unruly alcohol-related behavior.

According to an FAA spokesperson, 227 cases of enforcement had been opened and 37 have been referred by the FBI for further investigation.

Both the Justice Department and FAA stated that they have created an information-sharing protocol to allow the FAA and FBI access to unruly passenger cases for their review.

October 8th, President Joe Biden stated that he had instructed the Justice Department “to deal” with an increasing number of violent incidents aboard planes.

In June, a group of major U.S. airlines such as American Airlines (NASDAQ :), Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE 🙂 and United Airlines, along with aviation unions, requested that the Justice Department prosecute violent passengers as some Democrats have done in Congress.

A 20-year old Californian man was charged by U.S. authorities in Colorado with attacking a flight attendant aboard an American Airlines flight that was bound for Santa Ana (California) on Oct. 27, 2018. The assault caused the plane to have to land.

After boarding a Dallas-bound flight, a 32 year-old passenger was taken into custody and charged with assaulting a Southwest Airlines Co Operations agent (NYSE:) earlier this month.