Atlanta-bound Delta jet diverted to Canada

An unruly passenger so disrupted an international Delta Air Lines flight that the Atlanta-bound plane was diverted to a Canadian airport where authorities took the subject into custody.

Flight 47 from Moscow to Atlanta made an unscheduled stop Sunday at Gander International Airport in Newfoundland, and the passenger was removed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said Delta spokeswoman Susan Elliott.

Canadian authorities identified the passenger as Sergey Kotsur, 39, of Russia.

Elliott said the decision to eject the passenger was made by the plane’s captain. She would not release details about Kotsur’s actions.

According to a RCMP news release, the plane “was diverted as the result of an intoxicated, unruly male passenger.”

The plane was carrying 206 passengers when it departed Moscow earlier Sunday. It landed at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport about 10 p.m., more than four hours behind schedule.

Flight 47 passenger Eric Feliciano, waiting for his luggage late Sunday night after clearing customs, said the Russian passenger was sitting ahead of him in coach. He noticed an empty 1.5-liter bottle of Chivas Regal next to the man’s seat.

Kotsur allegedly started fighting with his wife and banging on the side of the aircraft.

“He was drunk,” said Feliciano, 40, a Tallahassee, Fla. resident who was returning home from vacation.. “I was afraid he was going to try to jump out of the plane or something.”

Another passenger, Irakli Bolkvadze, 30, of Moscow, said he watched as crew members assisted by others confronted Kotsur. “The steward said some guy was sick,” and that he had mixed alcohol with “pills,” said Bolkvadze, who was flying to the United States for a vacation.

It took eight people — male and female flight attendants and passengers including Feliciano — to hold Kotsur. They tried putting him in plastic wrist binders, but “he broke the restraints a couple of times,” the Florida man said.

After police took Kotsur off the plane and put him in a police car, he tried to kick out a window of the vehicle, Feliciano said.

He said he came to the crew’s aid because “you do what you need to do when you see a disturbance like that.”

Kotsur remains in jail on assault and mischief charges. He is scheduled to appear in Gander Provincial Court on Wednedsday.

— Staff writer Ben Smith contributed to this article.