Passengers stranded for four hours on a plane at Beauvais airport

The wait for takeoff was particularly long for the 160 passengers on a flight to Tirana, Albania, this Tuesday June 25, 2024 on the tarmac of theBeauvais airport. Boarded a plane Ryanair, travelers were initially scheduled to take off from Oise at 12:45 p.m. But the vacation in the sun has taken a little delay…

Because of a kerosene breakdownand a fuel spill on the runway, the plane was unable to take off on time.

“This required a maintenance intervention for repairs,” explains Edo Friart, commercial director of Beauvais airport, Oise News. “The captain and maintenance estimated they could repair in a time that would have allowed the passengers to be left on board to leave quickly.” But while waiting for the repair, the passengers had to stay on the plane, under the blazing sun… for about four hours!

Four hours of waiting, a “minimized delay”

“Unfortunately there was a little wait on board », recognizes the director, referring to a “normal procedure” and a “minimized delay”. “The wait could have been longer,” he adds.

The decision was made to keep the passengers on the plane in the hope of an early departure.

THE firefighters of the aerodrome were present around the plane to secure the scene and clean fuel which had flowed onto the tarmac. A scene that the passengers were able to see, which did not necessarily reassure them. “If there had been a particular problem, the passengers would have been disembarked immediately,” assures Edo Friart.

Ryanair finds another plane to take off

Finally, seeing that the failure could not be repaired quickly, Ryanair decided to change plane for this flight. The passengers were disembarked and were able to take off with another aircraft late in the afternoon, around 6 p.m.

“A change of plane in the middle of the summer season, when all the planes are engaged in flights, is a difficult challenge for an airline but it was done quite quickly,” assures the sales director. “For the passengers, it was a little complicated with the heat.”

The first machine has since been repaired.

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