TACKLING unruly and violent passengers is a number one priority for airlines. It is vital for the confidence of the public -- and of the flight industry itself -- that action is taken, and now.

We are, therefore, happy to back Airtours' call for a database of undesirables. This comes in the wake of the latest incident in which an air hostess was smashed over the head with a vodka bottle by a drunken, abusive passenger who just took a dislike to her.

Sadly, today, such incidents are by no means an uncommon occurrence. Most law-abiding passengers have seen the essence of the problem via loud, unruly people, usually fuelled by alcohol, who simply make a nuisance of themselves on flights.

The extremes of their behaviour, though, can result in distressing incidents on journeys as staff try to cope.

The answer is not just to ban alcohol on airlines, as this is anyway readily available in airports and elsewhere. Indeed, the passenger in this latest incident was not served any on the flight.

The ultimate danger in all this, though, is that the safety of the 'plane and its passengers is threatened by the indiscriminate violence of inebriates.

And when the UK Flight Safety Committee meets tomorrow and hears Airtours' suggestion of a blacklist, we hope that they keep firmly in mind this basic duty of care on which the general public relies.

The only sanction that selfish thugs understand is a ban on what they want to do: drink and fly.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.