Ryanair flight delayed because staff 'couldn't count passengers'

Crew reportedly read out names of passengers to figure out who was onboard

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A Ryanair flight was delayed by two hours because cabin crew were reportedly unable to count the number of passengers onboard.

The late-night flight, from Stansted to Belfast, took off two hours late as staff tried to confirm who was onboard.

It’s understood that around 100 passengers were onboard.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, airline staff checked boarding passes three times before take-off.

It’s then claimed that crew read out names of passengers to try to confirm who was onboard.

A passenger told the paper: “It looked as though there were two people on the flight who couldn’t be accounted for.

“The flight attendants kept telling us that legally they couldn’t take off until they had the correct number of passengers.

“They came around and checked everyone’s details three times. At one point 10 airport staff were in and out of the plane trying to verify passenger details.”

In a statement to The Independent, the no-frills airline said: “This flight from London Stansted to Belfast (26 May) was regrettably delayed ahead of take-off due to a minor technical issue, before departing to Belfast later that evening.

“Ryanair sincerely apologised to customers for the delay.”

It comes as Stansted Airport, the biggest Ryanair base, is revealed as the worst in Britain for delays.

The Press Association analysed Civil Aviation Authority delay data for 24 leading airports’ scheduled and chartered flights. It shows that the average flight from the Essex airport in 2019 was 25 minutes behind schedule.