"The plane weighs too much, someone has to get off or we won't take off." And those who "immolated" themselves were also rewarded with a 250 euro voucher as compensation.
The incident occurred on Ita Airways flight Az227 and operated by German Airways. Expected departure at 13.45 in England from London with destination Linate.
The crew explained that it was too risky to leave with 500 kilos in excess and those weather conditions on the route which involves passing over the skyscrapers of the City. The extra fuel that was needed to take off had to be compensated for by the descent of some passengers: initially ten, then, after removing the luggage from the hold, six.
Only after two hours of long negotiations were the volunteers found, also convinced by the fact that, once landed in Milan, they would still have to wait for the luggage to arrive on the next flight. Once the six passengers alighted, the captain and crew calculated whether the weight drop was sufficient and gave the go-ahead for departure, causing the plane to take off three hours late.
On that plane there was also the journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, conductor of Quarto Grado, who showed a passenger on his Instagram profile who translated the requests of the crew (who did not speak Italian). Among the passengers, someone ironically proposed "the captain and the stewardess" as volunteers.
(Unioneonline/L)
