UPDATE 7 p.m.:

For the second time today, a Hawaiian Airlines flight was diverted back to Honolulu this afternoon due to an incident involving an alleged unruly passenger.

Hawaiian Flight 22 departed Daniel K. Inouye International Airport at 1:05 p.m. today for a direct flight to Seattle.

“Approximately two hours after takeoff, our captain was notified of a passenger who refused to comply with the federal mask mandate and caused a disturbance to other guests. Our flight attendants, along with an off-duty pilot, were able to de-escalate the situation,” said Hawaiian Airlines spokeswoman Tara Shimooka. “Out of an abundance of caution, the captain elected to return to (Honolulu), where local authorities met the aircraft upon arrival at 5:53 p.m.”

There were no injuries reported.

Spokesman Jai Cunningham of the state Department of Transportation said the disturbance aboard the flight involved an adult female passenger. Her age was not immediately available.

Shimooka said, “We apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and thank our crew members for keeping our guests safe during these unfortunate incidents. We have zero tolerance for disruptive and dangerous behavior in our cabins and have banned or denied boarding to 98 passengers so far this year.”

A Honolulu-to-Hilo Hawaiian Air flight this morning was diverted back to Honolulu after a passenger allegedly assaulted a flight attendant.

The midair disturbances occurred on the same day that the aviation subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on Capitol Hill about the increasing amount of in-flight disturbances on commercial airlines.

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State sheriff’s deputies arrested a 32-year-old male passenger after he allegedly punched a flight attendant twice in an unprovoked attack on a Hawaiian Airlines flight bound for Hilo this morning.

At 7:30 a.m., Hawaiian Air Flight 152 departed from the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport. Soon after, “a passenger assaulted one of our flight attendants, who was walking the aisle, in an unprovoked incident,” said spokesman Alex Da Silva.

Preliminary information indicates the assault was not triggered by non-compliance with mask-wearing policies, Da Silva said.

The flight diverted back to Honolulu where deputy sheriffs escorted the unruly passenger off the plane and arrested him on suspicion of third-degree assault, according to Toni Schwartz, spokeswoman of the Hawaii Department of Public Safety.

The case has been turned over to federal authorities.

Taylor Garland, spokeswoman of the Association of Flight Attendants, said the passenger punched the attendant in the chest and back of the head while the attendant was walking through the cabin to pick up trash.

“This behavior onboard is unacceptable,” Garland said of the unruly passenger. “We are providing support to the flight attendant involved in the incident.”

Da Silva said the flight attendant was evaluated and released from work to rest.

Bill Paris, who was a passenger on the flight, said the incident occurred near the front of the cabin.

Both the passenger and the flight attendant were described as male.

In a statement today, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, said, “This attack is reprehensible.”

“The assailant must be held accountable and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There should be zero tolerance for this kind of despicable attack,” he said.

Since Jan. 1, the Federal Aviation Administration has received more than 4,200 reports of unruly passengers.