The airline teaching employees martial arts

Two judo fighters stand their ground with fists ready to fight - cropped

Because sometimes you need to fight fire with fire, one Russian airline is teaching its employees martial arts in order to better manage violent passengers inflight.

Low-cost carrier Pobeda Airlines will, per Daily Mail UK, teach its ground staff judo and sambo, a special martial art designed by the Soviet Red Army in the 1920s. It involves moves like strikes, joint locks, chokes, throws and ground fighting.

The decision was sparked by an incident in which an irate passenger who, when learning he had missed his flight from Moscow, erupted into a rage and attacked a Pobeda manager.

The attack was caught on camera, with the man demanding a refund for his flight.

The manager required medical treatment for his injuries and later filed an official complaint with police, resulting in the man being arrested.

The airline initially considered hiring private security guards to help protect its employees, but then dropped the plan because it would have increased the cost of plane tickets by up to two per cent.

“We’ve found a better option (than a private security company) and will train employees [in]sambo and judo. In this case, we will not have to raise ticket prices,” the airline’s general director Andrey Kalmykov told Vedomosti.

Per Daily Mail UK, parent company Aeroflot has continuously called for higher penalties for aggressive passengers, including suggestions such as a black list of passengers who can be denied boarding or restrained, for instance with plastic handcuffs, on board the flight.

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