Passengers fume as France seizes plane
PARIS — Storms, strikes, computer failures — you can now add “your plane has been seized by the government” to the list of things that can delay your flight.
In France, 149 passengers were preparing to take off for Landon late Thursday when French authorities ordered their Ryanair Boeing 737 impounded.
The budget carrier owed money and it was “regrettable that the state was forced” to evacuate the plane, the civil aviation authority said.
The passengers had gone through passport control and security and were about to walk on the tarmac to board the plane when airport authorities told them to turn around, passenger Boris Hejblum said.
“The airport staff told us there was an issue with the plane,” he told The Associated Press in an email.
No Ryanair staff members were available, and the only communication from the airline was two text messages saying simply that the departure was delayed, and a 5-euro ($5.75) voucher for food — “less than what a sandwich cost at the airport cafe,” the 30-year-old Frenchman said.
The passengers were put on another flight that finally brought them to London’s Stansted airport — five hours late.
The multimillion-dollar jet, meanwhile, was released only Friday after Ryanair paid a bill of 525,000 euros ($610,000).
The scene unfolded at the Bordeaux-Merignac airport in western France, where authorities say the airline was ordered to pay back funds that the European Union had declared to be illegal subsidies.
Ryanair has become Europe’s largest airline by number of passengers by persistently offering some of the cheapest fares available. That ensures its planes are packed. It manages to keep its costs down by flying to out-of-the-way airports at odd hours to get cheaper airport slots.