A flight from Sydney to Singapore on budget airline Scoot was diverted yesterday after a tussle between a husband and wife ended with the woman getting injured.
The Straits Times understands the woman's arm may have been broken or fractured and the flight's captain decided to divert the plane to Bali so that she could seek immediate medical attention.
It is not known if the man was also hurt but the couple got off the flight in Bali with their bags.
A third passenger, who was drunk and unhappy with the captain's call to stop in the Indonesian island, was also ordered to disembark when he became abusive towards the crew.
Flight TZ001, a Boeing 777-200, eventually landed at Changi Airport at about 10pm, three hours behind schedule.
A spokesman for Scoot - a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines - confirmed the incident but did not provide details.
"We can confirm the flight was diverted as a passenger needed medical attention," he said.
He also confirmed that a third passenger was asked to disembark.
"In this case, the captain deemed the passenger a threat to the safety and well-being of other passengers and decided to carry on with the flight without him.
" The captain was well within his rights in the handling of the situation," the spokesman said.
In such cases, immigration authorities would typically allow the passenger to remain within the airport until the airline can make arrangements for another flight.
The extra cost is borne by the passenger.
Unruly passengers are becoming a growing problem for airlines, the International Air Transport Association said recently.
Between 2007 and last year, there were more than 28,000 reported incidents of passengers getting out of control on board aircraft in flight.
These incidents included violence against crew and other passengers, harassment and failure to follow safety instructions.
