Aer Lingus chaos: 'Grateful we lost power on the ground' says passenger

A passenger has spoken about their Aer Lingus flight being cancelled after "the plane lost power"

Passengers on board Thursday afternoon's Belfast bound Aer Lingus flight from East Midlands airport sat in their seats for about an hour after their plane lost power shortly after boarding.

Flight EI 3681 crew were about to conduct their safety demonstration when the power went out on the 76 seat Alenia ATR 72 aircraft. The plane was due to fly to George Best Belfast City Airport.

The pilot attempted to restart the twin-engine turboprop airplane but it shut back down "after about a second."

"I'm just grateful we lost power on the ground and not in the air," said one passenger who wishes to remain anonymous.

"The flight attendants were walking down the aisle saying the pilot couldn't do an announcement because there was no power. They said he was talking to an engineer about the problem.

"After about an hour the pilot came out and shouted that he couldn't get the plane to run and an engineer would have to come out."

They added that passengers were then disembarked from the aircraft where they waited in the terminal for about another hour before the flight was cancelled.

Aer Lingus was approached for reply but had not responded by time of publication.