EasyJet flight grounded after pilot bitten by mosquitoes as passengers wait five hours for plane to be thoroughly cleaned
- The pilot ‘wanted to have the entire plane thoroughly cleaned’ after being bitten by a mosquito
Travelers had to wait five hours for their easyJet plane to be thoroughly cleaned after the pilot was bitten by a mosquito in the cockpit.
An easyJet Airbus A320 was engulfed by a swarm of insects before its flight from Amsterdam to Manchester last month. The sun reported.
Furious passengers claim boarding was delayed by around five hours while the crew faced some ‘technical difficulties’.
Travelers were reportedly left in the dark about the contamination until the pilot came out and admitted that he wanted to “have the entire plane thoroughly cleaned” after being bitten by a mosquito.
EasyJet has said that the ‘safety and well-being’ of both its passengers and crew is ‘our highest priority’.
Travelers had to wait five hours for their easyJet plane to be thoroughly cleaned after the pilot was bitten by a mosquito in the cockpit (stock photo)
The flight was scheduled to depart from Schiphol Airport on September 25 at 5:05 PM. However, the hour-long flight did not land in Manchester until 10.30pm.
Veterinary nurse Rachel Green, 27, was among those on the flight. She said easyJet did not provide any explanation for the delay in the cleaning process.
“The departure time on the board just kept going up,” she told The Sun.
“Eventually the pilot came out and told us he had been bitten by a mosquito in the cockpit, so he wanted to have the whole plane thoroughly cleaned in case there were any more bugs.”
Ms Green, who is apparently frustrated with the budget airline’s handling of the incident, added that easyJet only offered travelers a £3.90 food voucher as compensation for the disruption.
She believes easyJet should have ‘flyed another plane to us’ instead.
An easyJet spokesperson said: ‘easyJet can confirm that flight EZY2180 from Amsterdam to Manchester was delayed on September 25 due to additional cleaning of the aircraft after flies were found in the cabin.
‘At no time was the flight crew’s ability to conduct the flight compromised, and the captain made the decision to operate once the problem was resolved.
‘The safety and well-being of our customers and crew is easyJet’s top priority and we would like to apologize to customers for any inconvenience caused.’