The British Airways steward who accidentally activated a Boeing 777's emergency slide has reportedly cost the company a whopping £50,000 on his first day on the job.
The giant Boeing 777-200ER was being pushed back from Terminal Five at London's Heathrow Airport when the incident occurred last week (January 13).
The aircraft was due to take off, bound for Lagos, Nigeria, at 10.10am.
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It took several hours for the slide to be returned to its normal position and for emergency procedures to end. Frustrated passengers faced a four-hour wait.
At the time, a BA spokesman told the Daily Star: “The aircraft returned to stand and customers disembarked normally.
“We've apologised to customers for the inconvenience caused, have provided them with refreshment vouchers and have arranged a replacement aircraft so that they can continue their journey as planned.”
But it has now been claimed that the blunder cost the airline giant £50,000 after the jet missed its take-off slot, with a new slide ordered and passengers forced to switch aircraft.
An insider told the Sun: “It’s inexplicable that this could happen.”
The Daily Star has contacted British Airways for comment.
The newbie starter was replaced in the new flight crew which took the passengers on to Nigeria later that day.
'Pilots on oxygen' as plane crew report fumes mid-flight before landing at Heathrow
The same aircraft was actually back in service later that day, taking passengers from Heathrow Airport to Bermuda, returning just a few hours later – but passengers on the doomed flight to Nigeria were put on a different plane altogether for their eventual trip.
It was then back in the air once again two days later, doing a round trip from Heathrow to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel.
It has done further trips to New York and Boston, US, this week – with no more accidental inflations taking place, according to the experts at flight tracking website Flight Radar 24.
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