A fire broke out on the tarmac at Bristol Airport on Friday morning, leaving passengers in shock as they were about to board a plane.
Large clouds of smoke could be seen coming from the ground near an empty Ryanair plane, which was due to fly from Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, a video obtained by BBC News shows.
Passenger Colin Smith told the publication: "They were loading us onto the bus outside, then all of a sudden there's smoke billowing out of the front of the plane.
"The bus stopped, and two fire engines rushed over to it."
“Now we’re being told it was the ground carry unit next to the plane that actually caught fire,” he added.
A spokesperson for Bristol Airport said it was “a ground power unit (GPU) caught fire this morning”, which is a small, mobile generator that is used to provide power to a plane.
“This was quickly extinguished by our fire team and there were no injuries,” the spokesperson added.
No passengers were on the nearby aircraft at the time.
Mr Smith said that the incident was a "bit worrying", especially for people who are nervous about flying.
Emergency vehicles can be seen surrounding the plane in the video, while a stream of water also appeared to be shot in the direction of the smoke.
A Ryanair flight to Fuerteventura, FR1666, finally left over two hours later than planned, data from FlightRadar24 shows. The Boeing 737 was due to leave Bristol at 6.15am, but actually departed for its three-and-a-half-hour flight at 8.35am.
Flight itineraries do not appear to have been impacted by the incident, as the majority of flights are departing and arriving on time.
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “This flight from Bristol to Fuerteventura (2 May) was delayed due to a ground power unit (GPU) catching fire at Bristol Airport.
“This flight departed for Fuerteventura at 8.35am local time.”
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