Easyjet: Youth footballers stranded after flight cancelled

A group of youth footballers set for a tournament in Birmingham have been left stranded at Belfast International Airport after their Easyjet flight was cancelled.

One parent with the group of 23 children said they were told about the cancellation around 45 minutes before the scheduled departure.

Barry Johnson told BBC News NI it had been a "nightmare of a day".

Easyjet has apologised and said it was doing all it could to assist the group.

It comes as the company announced it was cancelling more than 200 flights from London Gatwick over the next 10 days, a move which will affect airports across the UK.

When asked about the cancellation of Friday's flight from Belfast to Birmingham on Friday afternoon, the company said:"We're sorry that this group's flight was cancelled today.

"All customers on the flight have been provided with options to rebook or receive a refund, nonetheless we fully understand the disruption this will have caused to their plans and we are very sorry for this."

The flight was scheduled to depart Belfast at 13:20 BST carrying the group of 52 people, including the young footballers who play for Cliftonville Football Club in north Belfast.

The incident is the latest in a string of cancellations by Easyjet.

On Thursday, 12 flights were cancelled by the airline in and out of Belfast International.

"We left in good time, the flight wasn't until 13:20 and we got there for about 11:00," Mr Johnson said.

"Everything was going grand to start with until it showed the flight was cancelled.

"The man who organised it was traumatised and when he said the flight was cancelled, I thought he was joking - nobody had the heart to tell the kids."

The youngsters are scheduled to play at a youth tournament in Birmingham on Saturday morning.

Mark Dornan, another adult travelling with the group, said after the flight was cancelled, they were taken downstairs to the check-in area where he thought they would be moved to another flight.

But he said the "door was closed" behind them and that no-one was available at the Easyjet desk to assist them.

"Easyjet has abandoned us and now we're going to have to use our own money to buy a new flight," Mr Dornan said earlier on Friday.

He was also worried the children would not make the tournament.

"It's tomorrow morning - registration is 09:00 so if we don't get a flight today it [the tournament] won't be happening," Mr Dornan said.

Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has praised Belfast International Airport staff and Swissport who helped rebook the group on three separate flights.

They have been booked on three new flights to Gatwick Airport in London, where they will then get the train to Birmingham.

"The kids haven't eaten since 10:30 so they're just hungry and bored at this point," Mr Johnson said.

"The kids are just kicking a ball about the airport, trying to keep themselves occupied."