The Aug. 10 flight to Birmingham departed more than an hour late after a technical problem and an onboard medical issue.
LUQA, Malta — Passengers aboard a delayed Ryanair flight from Malta to Birmingham, England, said travelers fainted, vomited and removed clothing as they waited for more than an hour inside an aircraft without working air conditioning before departure.
The incident happened Aug. 10 aboard Ryanair flight FR7268 from Malta International Airport. The airline said the flight was initially delayed because of a minor technical issue and was delayed further after a passenger became ill onboard. Ryanair said engineers inspected the aircraft before clearing it to operate. Passenger accounts described increasingly uncomfortable conditions while the plane remained on the ground, although several details of those accounts have not been independently confirmed by the airline.
Eva Gregory, 16, told news outlets that the problems began before passengers reached the aircraft. She said travelers spent about 30 minutes aboard one bus without air conditioning and roughly another 30 minutes aboard a second bus with limited cooling. BirminghamLive reported that passengers then waited about 20 minutes outside before boarding. Gregory said the heat was noticeable as soon as she entered the aircraft and that the cabin air conditioning was not operating.
Gregory said passengers remained aboard for more than an hour while the aircraft was still on the ground. She reported seeing two people lose consciousness and said other passengers became sick. Some travelers removed shirts or other clothing in an effort to cope with the heat. Video shared online showed passengers standing in the cabin and fanning themselves, but the footage alone does not establish the number or severity of medical problems reported during the delay.
Gregory said she also became nauseated and experienced a panic attack as conditions worsened. She described older travelers as appearing especially distressed. She alleged that free bottled water was not offered, including to passengers who were experiencing medical problems. Ryanair’s statement about the incident did not address the claims about water, the reported fainting or the condition of the cabin during the wait.
Despite criticizing how the delay was handled, Gregory defended the cabin crew. She said crew members appeared to be doing what they could and had raised concerns about passengers boarding before the cooling problem was resolved. Her account of those discussions could not be independently verified. She said the air conditioning began working gradually after the aircraft became airborne.
Ryanair said the aircraft was held before departure because of a minor technical issue and that the delay became longer after a passenger fell ill. The company said engineers inspected the plane and cleared it to fly. The airline said the flight departed Malta at about 7 p.m. local time. Published flight schedules show FR7268 had been due to leave at 5:40 p.m., making the departure more than an hour late.
Independent flight-tracking services broadly support the delayed departure while differing slightly on the precise time. Plane Finder recorded the Aug. 10 departure at 7:05 p.m., while Trip.com listed it at about 7:12 p.m. Both records show the flight later reaching Birmingham. Such differences can result from the way individual services record departure events, but all of the available records place the flight well after its scheduled 5:40 p.m. departure.
The airline has confirmed the technical delay, the subsequent onboard illness and the engineering inspection but has not publicly confirmed the broader passenger accounts of people fainting or vomiting. No further information about the condition of the passenger whose illness contributed to the delay had been released as of Tuesday.
Author note: Last updated August 18, 2026.