Airline bosses forced into apology as anger builds over ejection from plane

The CEO of United Airlines has apologised for the ‘truly horrific’ removal of a passenger from an overbooked flight.

Oscar Munoz said he “continues to be disturbed” by the incident, during which a passenger was forcibly dragged, screaming, off a plane.

He added: “The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment.

“I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened.

“Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologise to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way.”

Initially Mr Munoz said the passenger had been loud and aggressive during the incident.

United’s parent company’s share price plummeted yesterday after a video of the incident went viral on Twitter.

Security officers were filmed dragging the passenger from an overbooked United Airlines plane to make room for four employees of a partner airline on the Sunday evening flight from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky.

Officers could be seen grabbing the screaming man from a window seat, pulling him across the armrest and dragging him down the aisle by his arms.

He has been named in reports as 69-year-old father-of-five Dr David Dao from Kentucky.

Other passengers on Flight 3411 are heard saying, “Please, my God,” “What are you doing?” “This is wrong,” “Look at what you did to him” and “Busted his lip”.

Part of a video showing the man being hauled off the plane.