The altercation took place Saturday as frustrated fliers waited to board their flight heading to Luton, England. Moments before the first swing occurred the assaulted passenger’s wife was commenting on the flights delay when her husband chose to make an inquiry at the 13-hour mark, reported witnesses.
"It was just the straw that broke the camel’s back," Arabella Arkwright, a fellow EasyJet passenger, told the Washington Post. "The EasyJet employee lifted his hand first and pushed the mobile phone out the man’s hand. You could see it go flying."
"The man pushed him back, like he was protecting the baby. And then he just whacked him," added Arkwright.
— Arabella Ark (@ArabellaArkwri1) July 29, 2017
"It was awful the whole thing," Arkwright went on to tell CNN. "I just can’t believe people can behave like that."
Seconds after the fight broke out, Arkwright claims her husband stepped in to pull the now suspended employee away.
"My husband, who’s 64, had to pull the man off him and hold him against a glass door," Arkwright told the Daily Mail. "Everyone was appalled."
Both men were eventually taken away by airport officials, however, the man and his child were later allowed to board the flight when it took off from Nice.
"Clearly it is a misconduct situation," Francois Guitard, a director at the Nice airport. "We apologize strongly about this situation regarding this passenger."
"There is no reason for a staff member to fight a passenger," he added.
With claims swirling that the man worked for EasyJet, the budget airliner quickly confirmed he actually worked for Samsic, a special assistance provider who is contracted by the Nice airport.
— easyJet Press Office (@easyJet_press) July 30, 2017
"EasyJet was very concerned to hear about the incident in Nice between a passenger and an employee of the contractor of Nice Airport," read the airline’s press release. "We took this matter up with Nice Airport and their special assistance provider Samsic and understand the airport has confirmed his suspension."
The troubled airliner also went on to apologize for the flight delay, which was caused by a mishap during the plane’s refueling process, Fox News reported.
