Damaged door grounds Norwich to Geneva plane

Steve DownesScores of passengers were held up for almost four hours today when a piece of luggage damaged the door of a Flybe plane that was set to fly from Norwich International Airport to Geneva in Switzerland.Steve Downes

Scores of passengers were held up for almost four hours yesterday when a piece of luggage damaged the door of a Flybe plane that was set to fly from Norwich International Airport to Geneva in Switzerland.

Flight BE1461 should have left at 9.55am, but a passenger hit the door with his bag, dislodging it from its runners.

Because the door could not be repaired, the passengers were forced to disembark and wait at the terminal for a replacement plane to be flown in. The new plane took off at about 2pm.

A Flybe spokesman said: 'When they were loading the bags onto the plane, the door was damaged. Instead of spending potentially up to 10 hours repairing the plane, Flybe brought in another aircraft from Birmingham. There was a four-hour delay.

'The original aircraft was inoperable.'