- A video showed passengers confronting staff outside a Brussels Airlines plane this month.
- A Brussels Airlines rep told Insider that a flight from Kinshasa to Brussels was canceled twice.
A Brussels Airlines flight was canceled two days in a row, prompting passengers to storm the plane and confront staff members.
On Sunday, the X account Breaking Aviation News & Videos shared footage of the incident, which took place Saturday in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
—Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) September 17, 2023
The video showed passengers lugging their carry-on bags toward a grounded Brussels Airlines plane, where staffers waited nearby. Two women began arguing with one employee, which soon became a full-on verbal confrontation between staff and passengers. Passengers inch closer to the plane until they are right outside the stairs, but staffers keep the group at bay despite rising tensions.
A representative for Brussels Airlines confirmed to Insider via email Tuesday that Airbus A330 was scheduled to fly from Kinshasa to Brussels on Friday, and was postponed until Saturday. Still, technical issues grounded the plane until Sunday.
"There was indeed some unrest at Kinshasa airport on Saturday, Sept. 16, due to the second cancellation," the representative said.
The representative added that passengers were offered hotel accommodations during that period and apologized for the inconvenience caused by the cancellations.
The flight officially left Kinshasa on Sunday evening and arrived in Brussels on Monday morning.
Flight travel has been chaotic this summer. This month, social media users were shocked to learn a flight had to make a U-turn after a woman "had diarrhea all the way through" a Delta Air Lines plane this month. In August, a drunken family argument turned violent, forcing a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing.