TORONTO -- Two off-duty police officers from Austria on their way to Canada for vacation as a couple managed to restrain an unruly passenger aboard a Lufthansa aircraft last week.
The two officers were flying from Frankfurt, Germany to Vancouver on Dec. 29, the Austrian Interior Ministry said in a news release. But two hours after taking off, a passenger started making threats, "[endangering] the safety of the aircraft."
After discussing with the crew and police, the two officers overpowered the passenger and restrained him using techniques employed by the Austrian Federal Police.
The passenger was handed over to Canadian authorities after the plane landed, the ministry said.
"Their intervention was intelligent and courageous," Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said in a news release. "This intervention shows once again how professional and committed the police officers are in Austria, even when they are off duty and on vacation."
In a statement to The Associated Press, Lufthansa confirmed that the incident occurred on its Dec. 29 flight and thanked the pair for their help.
Incidents involving unruly airline passengers in Canada have spiked in over the past year, many of them involving non-compliance over mask mandates. Between January and November 2021, there were 1,338 incidents of passengers refusing to comply with mask-wearing during a flight.
With files from The Associated Press
