Unruly passenger forces flight from London to Los Angeles to divert to Salt Lake City

(CNN) — A disruptive passenger onboard a Virgin Atlantic flight from London’s Heathrow airport to Los Angeles on Tuesday caused the aircraft to be diverted to Salt Lake City, according to an airline statement.

The passenger was “physically detained by other passengers and flight crew members” and was met by police upon arrival, according to Salt Lake City Police in a statement.

The flight then continued to Los Angeles and landed about four hours after its scheduled arrival, Virgin Atlantic said.

“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we don’t tolerate any behavior that compromises this,” the airline statement said. “We always want our customers to have the best experience when they fly with us and our cabin crew are highly trained to deal with any individuals that may impact that experience for others.”

CNN has reached out to Salt Lake City Police for more information.

So far this year there have been 1,701 reports of unruly passengers, with 582 investigations initiated, according to Federal Aviation Administration data.

Last year was the worst on record for unruly airplane passenger behavior in the US, according to FAA data. In 2021, there were 5,981 reports of unruly passengers, with 1,113 investigations initiated.