AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
- A passenger on a Mexican domestic flight tried to force it to divert to the US on Sunday.
- The incident occurred on a Volaris flight from El Bajío to Tijuana.
- A witness told Fox 5 San Diego a man grabbed a flight attendant and held a pen against her neck.
A passenger on a Mexican domestic flight tried to force the aircraft to divert to the US, the airline said.
Volaris said the incident occurred Sunday morning on Flight 3041 from El Bajío to Tijuana.
It added that the flight was diverted to Guadalajara in central Mexico, where the passenger was handed over to the authorities.
Data from Flightradar24 shows the plane landed in Guadalajara 46 minutes after taking off from El Bajío.
A passenger told Fox 5 San Diego that the man apprehended grabbed a flight attendant and held a pen against her neck, before trying to open one of the plane’s doors. He was then restrained by another passenger and crew members, per the report.
A Mexican government statement reported by Bloomberg said the man was a 31-year-old Mexican traveling with his wife and two children. The man told cabin crew he had received death threats and would be in danger if he traveled to Tijuana, the report added.
Volaris said in a statement translated from Spanish that it regretted the inconvenience caused and that the safety of passengers and crew was the airline’s highest priority.
In a post on X, Volaris CEO Enrique Beltranena apologized to the passengers on the flight for the incident and thanked them for their composure and support.
