Celebrations to mark Virgin Atlantic’s inaugural Atlanta-Manchester flight turned out to be a bit of a public relations disaster for the airline.
The flight back from Manchester was grounded after a ‘water cannon salute’ by airport firefighters at Manchester Airport went wrong and clogged up its engines by spraying foam instead of water.
Virgin’s ‘Beauty Queen’ Airbus A330-300 had landed in Manchester with 188 passengers on board after its inaugural flight from Atlanta, Georgia.
It was preparing to leave Manchester Airport when the ‘salute’ took place – a traditional way to ‘send the plane on its way’.
But instead of spraying a giant arch of water over the top of the aircraft, someone pressed the button marked ‘foam’, clogging up the jet engines and hi-tech turbine blades.
The 252 passengers faced a five-hour delay before later being told the flight had to be cancelled altogether. They were put up in hotels overnight to wait for a replacement flight.
Virgin Atlantic confirmed the plane was ‘still being worked on’ overnight but did not want to confirm the amount or cost of work involved.
It said: “Unfortunately the VS109 from Manchester to Atlanta on March 30 has been delayed overnight.
“All customers have been offered meals and overnight accommodation and will continue their journey tomorrow. We would like to thank customers for their patience and look forward to welcoming them back on board.”
