A DRUNKEN care worker who went berserk on a packed holiday jet forcing the pilot to make an unscheduled landing was jailed for four months yesterday.

Charlotte Davies, 31, who downed rum and Ribena to combat her dread of flying, lashed out at her boyfriend and spread "fear and terror" on the Newcastle-to-Tenerife flight.

Cabin staff managed to restrain her but were so concerned by her behaviour that the pilot diverted the Boeing 757 plane to Faro airport in Portugal so she could be arrested.

Last night, aviation experts claimed the episode could have cost JMC Airlines as much as £20,000.

Gideon Ewers, managing editor of the journal of the Airport Operators Association, said: "Airlines have little control over what people might drink before they get on board and by definition this sort of thing is of great concern.

"You're talking roughly between £15,000 and £20,000 to divert the plane, which would include additional fuel costs, landing and handling fees and the knock-on delay.

"In an industry that operates on wafer thin margins that can mean the difference between profit and loss."

Davies, of Almond Drive, Sunderland, had admitted being under the influence of drink on an aircraft, which carries a maximum two-year sentence.

Newcastle Crown Court heard she had already drunk lager in the airport bar before moving on to a duty-free bottle of rum mixed with Ribena prior to the early morning flight on November 16 last year.

Shortly into the flight, carrying 200 passengers and seven crew, she began shouting and swearing at her boyfriend saying she wanted the window seat and then started kicking the seat of a passenger in front of her.

Despite pleas by the cabin crew to calm down, her behaviour worsened and the pilot diverted the flight to Faro where Davies was escorted from the plane and arrested by local police before being returned to England.

Davies later told police she could not remember much about the incident because of the drink.

Jamie Adams, defending, said: "She has a dread of flying and this is not a woman who was physically aggressive but simply drunk in her seat."

Judge Michael Taylor told Davies he had no alternative but to jail her, but said references he had been handed had helped reduce the sentence.

A JMC Airlines spokeswoman said the costs to the airline of the incident was not as important as the principle involved.