An international association representing airlines released figures Wednesday showing the once-friendly skies have become decidedly unfriendly.

A new report by International Air Transport Association concluded that airlines worldwide experienced 10,854 unruly passenger incidents in 2015, or roughly one incident for every 1,205 flights. That number is a significant increase considering a total of 49,084 incidents were reported from 2007 to 2015, association figures show.

Most incidents involved verbal abuse, failure to follow instructions or "other forms of anti-social behavior," according to IATA. However, 11 percent of reports involved physical aggression toward passengers or crew or damage to aircraft. Drug and alcohol intoxication was a factor in roughly a quarter of all reports.

"The increase in reported incidents tells us that more effective deterrents are needed," IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said. "Airlines and airports are guided by core principles developed in 2014 to help prevent and manage such incidents. But we cannot do it alone."

IATA is urging countries to ratify the Montreal Protocol 2014, which would expand the authority of governments to deal with unruly passengers. So far only six countries have ratified the protocol. The U.S. did not sign or ratify the document. http://bit.ly/2cCpmmY

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