The number of air rage incidents on passenger planes has more than trebled in the last five years.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said there were 2,219 such instances of disruptive passenger behaviour in the period April 2006 to March 2007, including 58 serious incidents.

This compared with just 648 incidents in 2002/03, with just 35 cases deemed serious.

Alcohol consumption featured in many of the incidents and in some of the serious cases passengers had to be restrained and planes diverted.

Other CAA figures released showed there were 601 incidents of serious or significant disruptive passenger behaviour in the first three months of 2008 - up from the 458 figure for the January-March period in 2007.

There was one incident of serious violence and 17 of significant violence against cabin crew in the first three months of this year, compared with one serious and eight significant incidents in the same period last year.

For the period 2006/07, 25 per cent of the air rage incidents involved women - up from the 20 per cent figure recorded in 2005/06.

The statistics also showed that the predominant age group committing disruptive incidents in 2006/07 were those in their 30s, although the age or approximate age of the perpetrator was only reported in 16 per cent of cases.

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