A pregnant woman 'collapsed' while hundreds of passengers waited eight hours for a plane to depart. Manchester Evening News reports that passengers became increasingly frustrated as they sat beside the runway for hours waiting for take off.
The incident occurred earlier this month at Manchester Airport when a fault with a Cathay Pacific flight caused two other planes to become stranded behind it for hours. The knock-on effect meant that a Brussels Airlines flight to Brussels and a TUI flight to Cape Verde were both waiting behind the aircraft bound for Hong Kong.
One passenger on board the Brussels Airlines flight told of how customers were sat on the taxiway for almost six hours due to the fault. Chris Brereton, who was heading to Bruges, stayed on the flight and claims he was only offered water free of charge.
He said: "The poor pregnant lady collapsed and two people on board stepped up to help her. This was after hours of being sat on the tarmac behind the broken plane.
"The captain kept saying 'they're coming to get you soon' but it just never happened. The lady then collapsed at the front of the plane and thank god there were trained people on board who knew what they were doing.
"It's an unbelievable credit to everybody on board that it stayed so calm and civilised because it could easily have kicked off." The flight was due to depart at around 12.30pm, before becoming stuck.
The plane was then eventually towed back to the terminal shortly before 6pm on December 15, with passengers given the option to stay on board or disembark and find alternate travel. The flight eventually took off for Brussels just after 8pm, meaning it was eight hours late.
A Brussels Airlines spokesperson said: "As mentioned before, a Cathay Pacific aircraft was blocking the runway due to technical issues which meant our aircraft OOSND (flight SN2174) was also blocked for several hours on the Manchester runway. Due to UK Safety Regulations it wasn’t possible to get towed back to the terminal.
"Despite the difficult situation, we did our utmost best to find solutions for all our passengers. The passengers with connecting flights, were rebooked on other flights. Only the ones having Brussels as final destination, left with our own flight to Brussels in the evening.
"We previously mentioned that passengers eventually disembarked and brought to the terminal by busses. This indeed didn’t happen as the steps arrived shortly before the Cathay Pacific aircraft cleared the runway and our aircraft was able to taxi back stand.
"The aircraft - with an initial delay coming into Manchester - was foreseen to take off around 12:30 and arrived back at the stand around 17:50. The aircraft was eventually pushed back around 20:00 - after disembarking all passengers and baggage with connecting flights, disembarking passengers who no longer wished to travel that day, refuelling and de-icing - for take-off to Brussels.
"There was indeed a pregnant passenger on board who needed medical assistance. The paramedics attended to her on board and later in the ambulance parked in front of the aircraft."
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “We regret any disruption caused to passengers as a result of this incident, caused by a technical issue with a Cathay Pacific aircraft. The safety of everyone on our site is a top priority and all necessary procedures were followed to ensure the safety of passengers, aircraft and the surrounding airfield operation.
“This meant people onboard the affected aircraft faced delays as the appointed ground handlers of the airlines concerned ensured they could safely deploy the necessary equipment on the airfield to resolve the issue."
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