In a bizarre incident, UK-based airline, easyJet asked 19 passengers to get off the plane due to "excess weight" and poor weather conditions, as per a report in the Independent. The flight was reported to take off from Lanzarote in Spain to Liverpool on July 5th when the passengers were asked to deboard. European airline easyJet, has over 300 aircraft and flies on nearly 1000 routes.
A video of the incident was recoded by a passenger who posted it on the microblogging site Twitter. In the clip, the pilot can be heard saying, "Thank you all for getting here today. Because there are so many of you it's a pretty heavy aircraft."
"That heavy aircraft combined with a pretty short runway and with the current unfavorable conditions here in Lanzarote, means the aircraft is too heavy to take off. I've been sat with my senior first officer and we're very experienced with this and have done this before. With safety as our number one priority, there is no way, with the current wind conditions, that we could get this aircraft airborne. There are a number of factors - it's very hot, the wind isn't fantastic, the direction isn't great," he said further.
He then invited up to 19 passengers to choose to leave the plane and also announced incentives of up to 500 euros, on behalf of easyJet to each passenger for not continuing with their journey, on behalf of easyJet .
Confirming the news to Independent an EasyJet spokesperson said, "easyJet can confirm that 19 passengers on flight EZY3364 from Lanzarote to Liverpool volunteered to travel on a later flight as a result of the aircraft being over the weight limits for the weather conditions. This is a routine operational decision in these circumstances and weight restrictions are in place for all airlines for safety reasons."
European airline easyJet, has over 300 aircraft and flies on nearly 1000 routes.