Scenes of riot were caught on video when passengers at Washington’s Dulles International Airport (IAD) reacted angrily after finding out that their flight to Casablanca was canceled.
Thousands of flights to and from Washington DC airports were interrupted on June 25, 2023. This was due to a ground stop issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) so that repairs could be carried out on a power panel at an aircraft control facility in the area.
One of the affected flights was a Royal Air Maroc scheduled to fly from IAD airport to Casablanca’s Mohammed V International Airport (CMN).
According to one of the flight’s passengers, who also took and posted the video, the flight was scheduled to depart at 21:50 on the evening of June 25, 2023. Passengers were angered by the lack of communication and that they were not provided an update until the last minute.
Passengers were already sleeping on the floor and had not been offered hotel or food vouchers, the passenger said via Instagram. Airline staff had apparently left the airport without providing passengers with answers.
Passengers can be seen and heard shouting “No hotel!” in unison. Soon after, airline staff can be seen quietly leaving, to the confusion and frustration of passengers.
Royal Air Maroc launched its direct flights from CMN to IAD airport in 2016. It has been flying the route five times weekly on the Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft.