Passengers stage sit-in on delayed Saudia flight

According to news reports in Saudi Arabia, more than 50 passengers on a Saudi Arabian Airlines flight from Madinah to Cairo on Thursday staged a sit-in on the aircraft in protest at its late arrival.

The move further angered hundreds of passengers in the Cairo terminal who had been waiting more than five hours for the inbound flight to arrive.

According to Abdullah Al Jamili reporting for the Arab News in Medinah, the flight had been due to leave Cairo at 5pm but passengers had waited without any information. On board the outbound flight the mood was also tense,

"As Egypt is witnessing an era of revolutions and sit-ins, 54 of the passengers on the flight from Madinah refused to disembark protesting against the delay. They wanted to register their anger and file for compensation. However, they only delayed others further.

"After several hours of negotiations, the protesting passengers decided to end the sit-in and the flight departed to Madinah. It arrived at 3:15 a.m," he said.

The captain of the aircraft had told passengers that the flight delay was out of the control of Saudia.