Anthony Piovesan
A New Year’s Day flight from Rome to Malaga has descended into chaos after furious passengers stormed off the plane because of delays.
The Ryanair flight bound for Malaga was scheduled to depart Roma Fiumincino at 9.25pm on January 1, but it didn’t take off until about 11.50pm.
The plane had started to move along the landing strip, but stopped suddenly.
The pilot explained to passengers aboard flight FR6138 that there was a ‘technical problem’ with the engine and the aircraft needed to be pushed back to where it had originally been parked.
There, engineers ran tests on the engines to determine if the aircraft was safe to take flight.
But amid the delay passengers started to get impatient.
After two hours sitting on the stationary aircraft, the Olive Press understands a group of furious passengers grabbed their bags from the overhead compartments and shouting ‘vamos’ they then stormed off the plane.
The pilot made an announcement shortly after explaining what had happened, and that their decision to leave the aircraft contributed to further delays as airport staff then needed to retrieve their luggage from the cargo.
The plane eventually took off and landed in Malaga about 2.10am this morning, more than two hours after its expected arrival time.
When questioned about the delay Ryanair told the Olive Press the plane was delayed ‘ahead of departure due to a minor technical issue with the aircraft’.
“To minimise disruption to passengers, all passengers remained onboard while Ryanair’s engineers inspected the aircraft,” a spokesperson said.
“The aircraft was then permitted to travel and safely departed Rome Fiumicino Airport following a brief two hour delay.
“We sincerely apologise to affected passengers for any inconvenience caused as a result of this minor delay.”
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