Passengers on drink charge pilots’ plane offered £500

ALL 250 passengers booked on a flight that was cancelled when the two pilots were arrested for trying to fly while drunk are to receive £500.

The president of Canadian airline Air Transat yesterday announced that everyone due to fly on the plane from Glasgow to Toronto last Monday will be offered compensation for the scrapped journey.

Air Transat faced a storm of outrage on social media for originally offering the passengers, whose journey was delayed by a day, only £115 off any future flights booked with the airline.

EU rules state a passenger is entitled to up to 600 euros, around £500, in the event that a flight longer than 3,500km (2,174 miles) is cancelled or delayed for more than two hours.

In a statement airline chief Jean-Francois Lemay said: ‘We will be compensating all passengers on this flight pursuant to the applicable European regulations.’

The airline also confirmed the two pilots – JeanFrancois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37 – have been suspended at least until an internal investigation has been concluded.

The pilots, both from Ontario, were arrested by police on suspicion of being ‘impaired through alcohol’ shortly before the Airbus A310 plane was due to take off from Glasgow.

They also face a further charge of using threatening and abusive behaviour.

The pair appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court on Tuesday. They made no plea or declaration and were remanded in custody until their next appearance.