Passengers taken off too-heavy aircraft bound for Dundee

An aircraft crew ordered four passengers off a Dundee-bound flight from London this week after the plane was deemed too heavy to fly.

The Air France flight operated by CityJet, and scheduled to depart from London City Airport on Thursday afternoon, was delayed by 30 minutes after the unfortunate group of passengers were told they were being transferred to a later flight.

A Cityjet spokesman confirmed the foursome were chosen because they were the last to check in.

He added that each had received compensation for the inconvenience caused.

“The decision was made by the captain,” he said.

“Because of the weather conditions and the weight of the aircraft, the captain decided to remove some of the passengers.”

One passenger who successfully travelled on the flight recalled that after landing the pilot apologised for the “debacle” and said he would be submitting a report to CityJet.

“It was not so much that we had been delayed but there was a lot of talk among passengers that the situation was very odd,” he said.