A British Airways pilot was removed from an aircraft at Gatwick after cabin crew suspected he was drunk.
According to witnesses, armed police boarded the Boeing 777, which was about to leave for Mauritius on Thursday evening.
Reports said cabin crew had called police after allegedly smelling alcohol on the pilot’s breath.
Sussex Police said a 49-year-old man from Harmondsworth, Hillingdon, was ‘arrested on suspicion of performing an aviation function while his alcohol level was over the prescribed limit’.
BA apologised for a two-hour delay and said it was treating the matter extremely seriously.
