Passenger faces hefty fine over attempt to stop taxing flight

A Bolivian national faces a hefty fine for running onto the tarmac at Madrid’s main international airport to stop a Ryanair plane.An amazing footage showed the mystery traveller jumping off the jet bridge with two bags in his hands and sprinting across the edge of the runway to try to board the plane.

Reports said the passenger had missed his budget flight and he had managed against all odds to get on the plane and reach his destination.In a major security breach, the tardy traveller got past staff at the gate and jumped off the jet bridge with two bags in his hands – landing on the tarmac eight to 10ft below – after the Boeing 737 had already pulled back from the terminal.

The holidaymaker sprinted across the apron to try and stop the plane from taking off without him, but was intercepted by stunned ground crew members at Madrid’s main international airport.

A Civil Guard spokesman in his sunshine destination – Gran Canaria – said he was stopped when he reached the holiday island and identified so he could be reported for an airport security infraction.

The spokesman said: “He breached a range of security measures when he saw he was going to miss his flight and despite the efforts of ground personnel to stop him, managed to run across the tarmac as the plane was preparing to taxi out to the runway.”

A source close to the case said the desperate man was a Bolivian national who was believed to have been travelling alone.He said: “He wasn’t arrested but he was identified so his name could be passed to Guardia Civil officers in Madrid for them to take the appropriate action.

“They didn’t manage to identify him in Madrid.“The pilot presumably agreed to let him on board because he had a boarding pass but he was lucky not to have been stopped in Madrid because we’re currently on terror alert level 4 and he could easily have been mistaken for a terrorist with all the consequences that come with that. The man in question is now likely to face a very high fine.”

A spokesman for Spanish Airports Authority AENA said the unnamed offender had broken a firm alarm in an apparent diversionary tactic.He said: “The incident happened around 9pm on Friday. We called the Civil Guard in after he breached security and broke a firm alarm before reaching the tarmac.

“We don’t know what happened after the Civil Guard were called. The only person who can answer the question of why he acted like he did is the man who protagonised this incident. It is definitely a first for this airport.”