British Airways was forced to apologise after a pilot accidentally activated the emergency slide.

Flight BA886 was just about to leave for Romania from London Heathrow when the pilot opened the door without disarming it, causing the slide to deploy.

The mistake delayed the flight for hours and cost the airline around £50,000.

Passengers were in their seats and waiting to take off when the pilot, who was believed to be experienced, made the mistake.

BA was forced to apologise to flyers

A source told The Sun: "The captain of all people would have known the safety rules around opening doors. This is beyond a rookie error. It’s totally baffling to understand."

The flight, scheduled to depart at 9.55am on Saturday, did not leave until 1.15pm.

A spokesperson from BA said: "We apologised to customers and arranged a replacement aircraft to ensure they were able to continue their journey."

The pilot failed to disarm the plane door when he opened it to pass documents to ground crew. Had he done so, the emergency slide would not have deployed.

The captain was taken off flying duties immediately, while the passengers waited more than three hours before they left in another aircraft with a different pilot.

Passengers were left waiting at Heathrow

In December, it was announced that British Airways will fly from London Stansted from next year for the first time since before the coronavirus pandemic.