Passengers left sweltering in British Airways plane on Dubai runway after AC malfunctioned

Passengers on a British Airways flight were left sweltering inside the cabin for two hours after the air conditioning failed before takeoff in Dubai.

Flight BA104 was set to fly seven hours from Dubai International Airport on Saturday, 24 May, to London Heathrow.

However, before takeoff, the Boeing 787 experienced an auxiliary power unit (APU) failure, which prevented the cabin airflow and cooling systems from working properly, travel blog Paddle Your Own Kanoo reported.

APUs are small devices that work as power sources for the aircraft, which are used mostly on the ground while the main engines are inactive.

Usually, ground equipment can be used instead of a faulty APU, and once the engines start, the cooling systems would resume.

The aircraft, therefore, decided to push back from the gate and begin taxiing, but it stopped while making its way to the runway because a cockpit warning light signalled.

With the gate now occupied by the next scheduled plane, it was diverted to a cargo area, leaving passengers stuck in stuffy conditions in the cabin.

A post from a passenger on a Facebook complaints forum, which now appears to be deleted, described passengers suffering from the high temperatures inside the cabin.

She said that babies had to be stripped down to their nappies to try and cool them down, and she was worried for her own health due to having high blood pressure, dealing with the heat and the stress.

The passenger also said flight attendants handed out one cup of water each, but the doors remained closed without air conditioning as engineers continued to work.

“We baked inside the plane for 2 hours as engineers worked on the flight deck,” she claimed, according to Paddle Your Own Kanoo. “The plane got hotter and hotter and recorded 47 degrees.”

In a statement, a British Airways spokesperson said: “We thank our customers for their patience while we resolved a technical issue with the aircraft.

“Our crew provided water to customers on board and worked hard to ensure our customers remained as comfortable as possible whilst we resolved the issue.”

This is not the first time passengers have had to deal with soaring cabin temperatures inside planes.

In July 2024, dozens of Qatar Airways passengers endured an heatwave in Greece while stuck inside for three hours on the tarmac without air conditioning.

The extreme temperature inside the flight caused nosebleeds in travellers, while some had to rely on oxygen masks.

That same month, passengers were also left sweltering inside a Juneyao Airlines plane without air conditioning during a two-hour flight delay.

It took one passenger to faint for the staff to allow passengers off the plane and back to the gate.

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