A Latvian co-pilot who had a blood alcohol level seven times the legal limit before he was due to take off from Oslo airport has been sentenced to six months in jail.
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The 38-year-old airBaltic co-pilot admitted to drinking two bottles of whiskey and some beer with four of his fellow crew members, including the pilot who was to command the flight carrying 100 passengers to Crete.
The 50-year-old pilot registered an alcohol level more than double the legal limit when Norwegian police breathalysed the crew after receiving an anonymous tip-off.
All four crew members, including two flight attendants, were prevented from boarding the plane.
The pilot was being held in custody ahead of his court hearing in Oslo on September 17.
He faces a maximum jail sentence of two years, but rejects some of the charges against him.
The two flight attendants have been sentenced to 45 and 60 days each after they also tested positive for alcohol.
The co-pilot told the court that the crew members had "lost control" after they started drinking at 3pm on August 7.
They polished off the two bottles of whiskey before switching to beer. The co-pilot was still drinking at 2am, just four hours before he and the crew were due to take off, the court heard.
His blood alcohol reading was 1.35mg of ethanol per millilitre of blood, well over the 0.2mg limit.
AirBaltic launched an investigation and introduced mandatory alcohol breath testing for all pilots and staff with a 'safety critical" role in response to the incident.
All four crew members were suspended and the airline was seeking their dismissal, airBaltic said in a statement.
"airBaltic reiterates that it has zero tolerance for diverting from the safety principles," the statement read.
The Australian Civil Aviation and Safety Authority stipulates that all staff in a "safety sensitive aviation position" including pilots, engineers, cabin crew and baggage handlers must not exceed the blood alcohol limit of 0.02 per cent.
CASA conducted 7,875 random alcohol and 3,377 drug tests on aviation staff in the 2012-2013 financial year.
There were seven positive alcohol tests and two positive drug tests over that period.
All employees must be tested for alcohol and other drugs when a supervisor has reasonable grounds to believe they may be under the influence, when an employee returns from suspension or after an accident or serious incident.
