EasyJet flight delayed due to passenger writing in Arabic

An Easyjet flight was delayed for 2 hours on the way from Amsterdam to Newcastle last week. A group of students saw another passenger writing Arabic characters, subsequently raised the alarm. The 'Arab' passenger in fact turned out to be an Iranian student who was doing his English exercises on a note pad.

The group of 45 young English students with an average age of 16 were aboard the flight back to Northumberland, when one had a panic attack after witnessing a co-passenger writing Arabic characters in a note book. The flight crew was called to evaluate the situation but did not pay too much attention until boarding was initiated. However, once the aircraft was in position to take off, the student started causing a scene and ran to the rear of the aircraft, panicked. Take-off subsequently had to be aborted and the aircraft returned to the gate.

Arabic - English exercises

Eventually, 16 of the 45 students deboarded the aircraft in order to fly to England on another flight. A co-passenger of the original flight, Adam Robson (21), sat next to the 'suspect' and witnessed the situation. The accused Iranian passenger was an innocent and quiet Masters student who was returning from a visit to his wife in Amsterdam. The student had explained to Robson that he always brought his note pad to practise and improve his English. Hence, the pad contained many translations from Arabic to English.

An Easyjet spokesperson has confirmed the flight from Amsterdam to Newcastle was delayed by two hours and twenty minutes as a result of a group of passengers deciding to take another flight.