They remove 19 passengers from a flight in the Canary Islands because the plane was ‘too heavy to take off’

Airline easyJet decided to drop 19 passengers who flew back to Great Britain from Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain). because the plane was “too heavy to take off”.

The plane was scheduled to depart from Lanzarote’s Arrecife airport at 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday to John Lennon Airport in Liverpool. But due to the weight of the aircraft and the bad weather conditions, the flight was delayed until almost 11:30 pm.details Daily mail.

“Thank you all for coming here today. Because there are so many of you, it’s quite a heavy plane,” the pilot can be heard saying in a video filmed by a passenger.

“This heavy aircraft, in combination with a fairly short runway and the current unfavorable conditions here on Lanzarote, makes the aircraft too heavy to take off.. I sat down with my senior first officer and we have a lot of experience with this and we’ve done it before,” the pilot continued.

He explained that the only way to solve a problem with a heavy aircraft was to make it a little lighter. “If possible I would ask for up to 20 volunteers who decide not to fly to Liverpool tonight. If someone wants to volunteer, there will be an incentive. The current number that easyJet has told us is a maximum of €500 per passenger who does not want to fly tonight”.

According to easyJet’s flight tracker, the delay was due to ‘bad weather conditions in Lanzarote’. The plane arrived at John Lennon Airport shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday.

A spokesman for easyJet confirms this to the newspaper Liverpool echo that 19 passengers volunteered to disembark the plane and travel on a later flight because the plane exceeded weight limits for weather conditions.

“This is a routine operational decision in these circumstances and weight restrictions are in place for all airlines for safety reasons. The safety and well-being of our passengers and crew is always easyJet’s top priority.”, said the spokesperson, who added that the volunteers were transferred to another flight free of charge and were also reimbursed in accordance with regulations.