Plane carrying Manchester City staff evacuated on runway

The plane carrying Manchester City staff to the Champions League play-off with Steaua Bucharest was evacuated on the runway prior to take-off.

Passengers were hurried off the aircraft by the crew as a safety precaution, after a fault occurred with the air conditioning system in the cabin of the Carpatair flight.

Fire engines and an ambulance were placed on standby at the scene after the plane had been fully evacuated.

All passengers – which included media personnel, who began to provide updates via Twitter – were escorted back to the terminal at Manchester Airport after safely disembarking.

They later re-boarded the aircraft after it was cleared for take-off.

“After reports of an air conditioning fault, passengers on the Carpatair charter flight to Bucharest were disembarked back to the terminal as a precaution,” a statement from Manchester Airport read.

City are travelling to Romania for the first leg of their play-off tie against Steaua, which takes place on Tuesday.