Pilots appear in court accused of being unfit to fly
Two Air Transat pilots remain in custody after being arrested at Glasgow Airport on suspicion of being unfit to fly on Monday.
Captain Jean-Francois Perreault, 39, and Imran Zafar Syed, 37, have appeared in court accused of being under the influence of alcohol. They made no plea and are expected to appear in court again in eight days.
The Canadian pair were due to fly an Air Transat plane to Toronto with 345 passengers and nine crew on board.
The flight was held up overnight and eventually departed at 10:30am yesterday.
Air Transat apologised to passengers and offered compensation of 200 Canadian dollars off their next flight as a ‘goodwill gesture’.
In a letter it said: "Please accept our sincere apologies for the disruption caused by the delay of your flight. While it is our policy to do everything within our power to ensure on-time performance, regrettably, this is not always the possible."
The company said the safety of its crews and passengers was its top priority and that it would await the results of court proceedings before commenting further.
The delayed flight took off from Glasgow just after 10:30 on Tuesday.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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