SINGAPORE — A man headed for holidays, who had a bit too much to drink while in the business class cabin on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight, ended up causing a ruckus and was jailed for three weeks on Friday (Jan 10).

Court documents show that the Russian national, Pomorin Roman, 37, had consumed four glasses of champagne and four glasses of whisky and became intoxicated while flying aboard flight SQ 361 from Moscow to Singapore on Nov 1, 2019.

At about 1am, he walked over to a female passenger seated in another row of the cabin and started talking to her. The passenger, as well as her husband who was beside her at the time, grew uncomfortable with Roman’s actions and called for the cabin crew to help.

Roman was escorted back to his seat, but subsequently began to shout and wake other sleeping passengers up.

He continued doing so despite the crew’s instructions to keep quiet, shouting at various points of the flight. At one point, Roman got up from his seat to approach the female passenger again and was escorted away by the crew.

The SIA crew then decided to call the police for assistance, around four hours before the flight touched down in Singapore. Roman was arrested at Changi Airport Terminal 3.

A blood sample found that he had 111mg of ethanol per 100ml of blood. As an indication of the level of intoxication, the legal limit for driving in Singapore is 80mg per 100ml of blood.

In court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Shin Hui noted that while Roman had no traceable antecedents, Parliament had consistently increased the penalties for first-time offenders for such offences under the Air Navigation Act, including jail time.

She urged the court to impose a custodial sentence for Roman, but left the duration up to the court to decide.

“His unruly conduct posed a risk to the safety of other passengers and to Singapore’s (aviation) reputation,” said the DPP, adding that the enclosed space of the aircraft meant that passengers would not be able to avoid Roman if they wanted to.

Roman’s lawyer, Mr Barry Delaney, told the court that his client was “exuberant” as he was going on a holiday with two friends, and they also had drinks at a party before they embarked on the trip.

“He continued drinking on the flight, which led to unruly behaviour. He has learnt his lesson and said he will not break the law again,” said Mr Delaney in mitigation.

He added that Roman has suffered a financial loss of two months without work, and has been living out of hostels in Singapore while the investigation was ongoing.

District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim said a three-week jail sentence, backdated to Roman’s date of remand on Jan 3, was appropriate, stating: “An airplane is an enclosed place. What you did affected the safety and security of all passengers, and the stewards and stewardesses should not have to put up with this behaviour.”

Roman, a business owner in Russia, was en route to Thailand for his holiday, TODAY understands.