By René Garzke
Everyone was already in the machine. Suitcases stowed ready for departure to Liverpool. Then the pilot brought the bad news: Some passengers have to get off again! That’s what happened on Wednesday at Lanzarote’s Arrecife Airport.
The pilot in his announcement to the passengers: “Thank you for coming here today. Because there are so many of you, the plane is quite heavy.” A video of it is circulating on social networks. The Easyjet machine was supposed to start at 9:45 p.m.
The pilot then explains the unfortunate situation: “The combination of a fairly short runway and the current unfavorable conditions here in Lanzarote means that the aircraft is too heavy to take off.”
With the prevailing wind conditions, there was no way to get the plane airborne, the pilot continued. “Safety is our top priority.”
The only solution is to make the machine lighter, says the flight captain in the video.
Then he delivers the bad news: “If possible, I would like to ask up to 20 volunteers not to fly to Liverpool tonight.” Boom!
In the video, posted on Tiktok, passengers can be seen shaking their heads or muttering “I want to go home tonight.”
After all, there is a tempting offer for travelers: “Easyjet has currently offered us up to 500 euros for each passenger who is willing not to fly tonight,” says the pilot.
And some accepted that!
A Easyjet spokesman told the newspaper “Liverpool Echo”: “Easyjet can confirm that 19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool have transferred to a later flight as the aircraft exceeded weight limits for the weather conditions.”
With just over an hour and a half, the plane was able to take off at 11:24 p.m. The plane landed in Liverpool just after 3 a.m.