15 Aug Plane carrying Manchester City staff and media to Champions League match evacuated after ‘smoke in cabin’

The chartered flight was preparing for takeoff at Manchester Airport when smoke started appearing in the cabin – passengers were told to “leave your stuff – go, go, go”

Four fire engines attended the incident which took place just before 11am on Monday.

But technicians discovered after the cabin had filled with smoke that the problem was due to an air-conditioning fault and passengers were then returned to the aircraft.

No players were on the plane.

A Carpatair spokesperson said: “The problem was down to water vapour because of a fault in an air conditioning unit on the aircraft although it appeared to be smoke.

“Normal emergency procedures were applied. The aircraft was safe and fit to make the journey to Bucharest after a 45-minute delay.”