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A Virgin Atlantic flight from Manchester to New York City's John F Kennedy International Airport was canceled moments before takeoff because an eagle-eyed passenger noticed several fasteners were missing on the wing of the Airbus A330-300.
The passengers were forced to disembark while a team of engineers inspected the aircraft.
While the flight was canceled as a precaution, an Airbus official told the Manchester Evening News that the missing fasteners did not pose a safety risk.
"Each of these panels has 119 fasteners, so there was no impact to the structural integrity or load capability of the wing, and the aircraft was safe to operate. As a precautionary measure, the aircraft underwent an additional maintenance check, and the fasteners were replaced," Airbus Local Chief Wing Engineer for A330 Neil Firth explained.
All of the passengers were rebooked on a different flight to New York City.
"The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority, and this was not compromised at any point. We always work well above industry safety standards, and the aircraft is now back in service. We'd like to apologize to our customers for the delay to their journeys," a Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said.