Vietnamese man banned from flights for assaulting airport employees

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam on Thursday said Le Van Hung, 38, from Thanh Hoa Province in central Vietnam, has been banned from domestic and international flights for a year until June 5 next year. Hung will be subject to strict surveillance on any flight for a year after.

On June 1, Hung arrived at the airport in the province to check in for a flight to HCMC. He failed to comply with instructions given by airport staff in charge of security screening and baggage checks.

When they reminded him to follow the rules, he became agitated and got violent, grabbing a security guard by the neck and knocking him down to the ground, media reports said.

He fiercely resisted other security staff as they tried to take him into custody, slamming his head and injuring one of them.

Hung was handed over to the local police for further investigation.

Vietnam imposes flight bans of up to a year for travelers who disrupt order on flights or in airports, make bomb threats or use fake papers to travel. Repeat offenses are subject to an indefinite ban.

Three men got hit with a one-year flight ban last December for assaulting a woman VietJet Air employee, also at Tho Xuan Airport.

They were angry she refused to take photos with them.

In 2017, Vietnam’s aviation authorities banned two local travelers from flying for threatening and assaulting aviation employees.

The rise of low-cost carriers and the middle class have seen rapid growth in Vietnam’s aviation industry. There were more than 53 million air passengers in the first half of this year, up 14 percent from a year ago.