POLICE REMOVED more than 100 passengers from a Ryanair aircraft preparing to leave the Canary Islands at the weekend after a large scuffle broke out onboard.
La Provincia, a Spanish newspaper, said the disruption happened when the budget airline tried to charge one passenger extra for carry-on baggage. His friends aboard the plane “mutinied”.
A Spanish interior ministry spokesman said the pilot was preparing for take-off at Guacimeta airport on the Lanzarote island resort for Charleroi, Belgium, when she radioed for police assistance.
He said that, of the 168 passengers, only 66 were allowed to reboard Saturday’s flight. The rest had to find other carriers and some spent the night on Lanzarote.
In a statement, Ryanair denied there had been a “mutiny” on the plane, saying it had been forced to offload a group of 100 passengers at the request of Spanish police.
“This group became disruptive, and refused to comply with crew instructions after a number of their group were required to pay a gate bag fee for outsized luggage,” the airline said. “Lanzarote police required the entire aircraft be offloaded and each passenger identified. Following further disruptive behaviour, the police required for security reasons that this entire group be refused travel,” it added.
The airline apologised to the 66 passengers who suffered a three-hour delay while Ryanair and the local police were dealing with the incident. “The safety and security of Ryanair’s passengers, crew and aircraft will remain Ryanair’s number one priority,” it added.
