A 35-year-old man from Warrington died on 23 June 2026 after being restrained by fellow passengers and crew aboard a Jet2 (LS) flight from Larnaca to Manchester. Callum Kerr, a father of three and bare-knuckle fighter, boarded Jet2 flight LS966 from Larnaca to Manchester on 21 June with his girlfriend when he allegedly became “aggressive” and “disruptive” towards airline staff and other travellers during the journey. He was found unresponsive by police on landing, taken to hospital in a critical condition, and died the following afternoon, The Standard reported.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said officers were called to reports of an alleged assault after Mr Kerr reportedly became aggressive during the flight, with another passenger and a member of cabin crew assaulted. The incident has since triggered two separate, simultaneous investigations — one by GMP’s Major Incident Team and one by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) — placing the airline, the police, and questions around in-flight restraint at the centre of a fast-developing story.
How The In-Flight Incident Unfolded on Board Flight LS966
According to a witness who spoke to the Manchester Evening News, Kerr started acting hostile after drinking a significant amount of alcohol before take-off. GMP received the first calls shortly before 2:30 a.m. BST on 22 June. Officers were called to reports of a man behaving aggressively towards passengers and crew on an inbound flight travelling from Larnaca, Cyprus.
The airline confirmed the disturbance in an initial statement. “We can confirm that flight LS966 from Larnaca to Manchester requested a priority landing on Monday 22nd June, due to a disruptive passenger incident,” Jet2 said:
“We can confirm that a passenger has been taken to hospital. As an investigation is underway, it would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment at this time.”
When officers boarded the plane following its arrival at Manchester Airport (MAN), they discovered Mr Kerr was being held by passengers and aircrew towards the rear of the aircraft.
What Police Found When They Boarded the Aircraft
Officers used handcuffs to detain him and quickly identified he was unresponsive; through the provision of first aid, they began CPR. GMP then arranged his transfer to a nearby hospital.
Chief Superintendent Mike Allen of GMP addressed the scale of the episode directly. He said:
“An investigation is now under way to establish what happened during the flight and our specialist officers have been keeping them updated with all the information we know so far. I know there were many people on the flight who witnessed the violence and disruption prior to officers’ arrival. We know passengers and aircrew worked to detain the man to bring the incident to an end.”
Mr Kerr was taken to hospital in a critical condition but died on the afternoon of 23 June. His death set in motion a mandatory referral to the IOPC because police had come into contact with Kerr before his death.
The Family’s Tribute and Jet2’s Official Response
Kerr’s family released a statement through police that painted a picture at odds with the violent circumstances of his final hours. His family said: “Callum was a family man, father to three beautiful young children, a lover of sport and with a heart of gold.”
A Jet2 spokesman offered “sincere condolences to the customer’s friends and family” but declined to comment further while investigations remain ongoing. The airline had earlier confirmed the flight’s priority landing request and the passenger’s hospitalisation, but chose not to elaborate on the specific events aboard the aircraft.
Friends and relatives also paid tribute on social media, remembering Kerr as a devoted father, loyal friend, and passionate sportsman. The depth of public tributes contrasted sharply with the severity of the allegations surrounding his behaviour in the hours before his death.
Two Investigations Are Now Running in Parallel
The death of Callum Kerr has triggered two distinct inquiries proceeding simultaneously. GMP’s Major Incident Team is investigating the events on board the flight before police arrived, including how Kerr came to be restrained by passengers and cabin crew. Chief Superintendent Mike Allen said detectives are gathering witness statements from passengers and crew to establish the full sequence of events.
The IOPC launched a separate track focused on the conduct of officers at the scene. Amanda Rowe from the IOPC said the investigation would “focus on the actions of police, while a separate GMP investigation is considering the actions of the members of the public involved.” She added:
“We have been in contact with Mr Kerr’s family to make them aware of our role and will keep them, and GMP, updated as our investigation progresses.”
The IOPC confirmed that the five officers who entered the aircraft are being treated as witnesses “rather than being investigated for their conduct.” The watchdog’s inquiry will examine the actions and decision-making of those officers to establish what occurred surrounding the passenger’s death. Evidence gathering is already underway, including body-worn camera footage and preliminary statements from police personnel.
Neither GMP nor the IOPC has indicated that Kerr’s death is being treated as suspicious. Both investigations remain ongoing as authorities continue to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
Jet2’s Pattern of Disruptive Passenger Incidents
The death of Callum Kerr is the most serious outcome to date in a string of high-profile disruptive passenger incidents involving Jet2 flights in recent years. The airline has repeatedly positioned itself as a zero-tolerance carrier, yet the incidents keep coming.
In February 2026, Jet2 banned two passengers for life after a violent altercation on board flight LS896 from Antalya to Manchester, which forced an emergency diversion to Brussels. Video circulating online appeared to show passengers exchanging punches in the aisle as other travellers screamed. Jet2 told media that the behaviour was “appalling” and pledged to “vigorously pursue them to recover the costs that we incurred as a result of this diversion.”
In April 2026, Jet2 called for the creation of a national database for disruptive passengers after chaos broke out on another inbound flight to Britain, with an allegedly drunken traveller threatening staff and fellow passengers in a furious tirade of abuse. The airline’s calls for industry-wide bans reflect frustration that carrier-level lifetime bans do not prevent a banned passenger from simply boarding a competitor’s aircraft.
Earlier, in December 2025, a businessman was sentenced to prison after sexually assaulting multiple cabin crew members aboard a Jet2 holiday flight from Edinburgh Airport (EDI) to Tenerife South Airport (TFS), forcing a diversion to Porto Santo.
These incidents sit alongside a separate operational controversy: in January 2026, a Jet2 flight departed Manchester Airport without approximately 35 passengers who had already cleared security and had their boarding passes scanned.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported over 10,000 unruly passenger cases annually in recent years, with some incidents escalating to severe threats. IATA data shows that there was one unruly incident for every 568 flights in 2022, with physical abuse incidents increasing by 61% over 2021, occurring once every 17,200 flights.
All in All
As of publication, the facts established by GMP and the IOPC paint a partial picture. The following remain subject to investigation:
- The exact sequence of restraint events before police arrived
- Whether proper welfare monitoring of Kerr occurred while he was being held
- The cause of death, which has not been formally released pending investigation
- Whether any passengers or crew face civil or criminal liability
- Whether the five attending officers bear any procedural responsibility
GMP detectives continue their work to establish the complete circumstances of what transpired during the flight, with both the police watchdog inquiry and the separate investigation into civilian actions proceeding simultaneously. The outcome of those inquiries is likely to have implications not just for this case, but for how airlines, crews, and fellow passengers approach in-flight restraint across the UK aviation industry.