South Yorkshire Police and Robin Hood Airport are warning that action will be taken against anyone who puts the safety of passengers at risk.

That includes passengers who have too much to drink and earlier today two men were sentenced at Doncaster Magistrates Court for being drunk on an aircraft.

Dino Hall, 21, of Stanley Street, Retford, was sentenced to 20 weeks imprisonment and Richard Brown, 20, of High Street, Retford, was sentenced to 16 weeks at a young offenders institute this afternoon.

Both men pleaded guilty to the offence after boarding a flight from Bourgas in Bulgaria to Doncaster on 23 July, 2009, and becoming abusive to passengers and flight attendants.

South Yorkshire Police Inspector Jayne Johnson was a passenger on the flight and stepped in to help the flight attendants deal with the two men. The plane’s captain even offered to redirect the flight to Germany but Inspector Johnson was able to manage the men’s behaviour until the plane landed in Doncaster where Hall and Brown were arrested.

Sergeant Stuart Price, who leads the dedicated Airport Safer Neighbourhood Team, said: “Our overarching priority is passenger safety and any behaviour which falls short of accepted standards will not be tolerated.

“We treat any case that threatens passenger safety extremely seriously and the sentencing of these two men shows our commitment to dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour at the airport.”

Police have also arrested a Doncaster man this Wednesday, 13 January 2010, on suspicion of communicating a bomb hoax under the Criminal Law Act 1977.

The arrest relates to alleged threats about Robin Hood Airport discovered on a social networking website.  The man, in his 20s, is now on police bail pending further enquiries.

South Yorkshire Police advise members of the public to use such sites appropriately, as they are easily accessible to the public and any inappropriate use could cause unnecessary concern and lead to comments being reported to police.

Mike Morton, Airport Director, said: “The safety of our passengers and staff is of the highest importance to us and we work closely with South Yorkshire Police to make sure that any kind of unacceptable behaviour is dealt with immediately. We simply will not tolerate such activity.

“Thankfully, instances like the ones highlighted here are rare and the majority of our passengers act in a responsible way and enjoy flying in and out of the airport without any problems.