Passengers petition RyanAir over Italy-bound plane

Passengers petition RyanAir over Italy-bound plane Luebeck, Germany - In a fresh case of spooked airline passengers petitioning an airline to step up safety, Ryanair faced a customer revolt this week on an Italy-bound flight, a German airport said Thursday.

Passengers demanded Ryanair arrange a full technical check of the Boeing 737 which was grounded before a flight Wednesday from Luebeck, Germany to Pisa, Italy.

Luebeck Airport said a technician had already been flying to the airport with a spare part when some of the 176 passengers began rounding up signatures.

When the plane did take off nine hours late at 10.10 pm, 20 of the passengers had cancelled the trip.

An airport spokeswoman said Ryanair did not allow contract engineers to work on the plane and had no engineers at Luebeck. It insisted on flying in its own technician from Stockholm, Sweden to do the repair.

She said the flight, scheduled to depart at 12.45 pm, had been delayed by a defect in the jet's right wing. (dpa)