Flight too heavy to take off – 20 passengers taken off

Overindulgence is all part of the holiday culture, taking the chance to fill ourselves with delicious authentic homemade pasta and pizza before we return home. But, we might want to check we don’t overdo it when holidaying in Italy.

A British Airways flight bound for London City Airport faced an unusual disruption earlier this August when 20 passengers were asked to disembark from a BA Embraer ERJ-190 at Florence’s Amerigo Vespucci Airport due to the plane being too heavy for takeoff. The official cause given? Swelteringly high temperatures of around 35°C on August 11, which reduced air density and required the aircraft to carry additional fuel to reach cruising altitude.

The combination of the extreme heat and the airport’s short 1.6 km runway created risky conditions for the flight. According to one passenger, the pilot explained that the less dense air meant the plane’s engines would need extra fuel to operate effectively, adding significant weight. At first, staff requested 36 passengers to volunteer to leave the half-empty flight, but only 20 ultimately disembarked.

British Airways has not released further details about the incident, but the event shows the operational challenges airlines face in extreme weather conditions, particularly at airports with shorter runways. In the end, they didn’t blame it on extra bottles of duty-free or anything more personal. The affected passengers were accommodated on later flights, and the plane eventually departed for London.