Passengers Expecting To Travel To London Not Allowed To Board The Aircraft

The French government impounded a Ryanair 737 Thursday as it prepared to take off for London, forcing the carrier to make other arrangements for the 149 passengers that were expecting to fly from Paris to London on the jet.

The plane was seized over a bill that the French government was owed by the airline totalling about $610,000. French authorities said it was "regrettable" that the passengers were inconvenienced by the move, according to the Associated Press.

Passengers were told that there was a problem with the plane, according to the report. They had cleared through passport security control and were about to walk out onto the tarmac to board the plane when they were told to turn around. They were eventually put on a flight that got them to London about five hours late.

French aviation authorities said they had been trying to recover money that had been given in subsidies to Ryanair since 2014. The European Union declared the subsidies to be illegal. Ryanair did not comment publicly on the incident.

(Image from file)

FMI: Source report