A strike by lightning is being blamed for the "engineering problem" that grounded a Boeing 757 aircraft at JFK Airport, New York on Thursday night last with 240 passengers bound for Ireland West Airport at Knock and for Liverpool.
The aircraft, operated by Scottish carrier Flyglobespan, was given the all-clear by technical experts yesterday and was due to take off for Ireland at midnight Irish time last night and touch down in Ireland West Airport at 6.30am.
The airline said the plane was struck by lightning as it landed in New York last Thursday.
There were false hopes of a departure at 2am on Saturday when passengers were asked to board the plane but had to disembark again after the crew discovered that a warning light was flashing.
A spokesman for Flyglobespan, Crawford Brankin, said last night the captain spoke to passengers yesterday reassuring them the plane was perfectly safe and airworthy.
Difficulties had arisen, Mr Brankin said, because of the lightning strike on Thursday, which had caused a wiring problem.
"Passengers would have been unaware of the lightning incident. The problem has now been resolved and the captain has apologised profusely to passengers for the delay and inconvenience."
The return leg of this morning's flight to New York has had to be rescheduled due to the events of the past few days. It is now due to take off for New York at 11am today, some 24 hours late.
Ireland West Airport was making arrangements for the inconvenienced outward-bound passengers to be accommodated in local hotels last night.
Flyglobespan has been operating three flights a week from Liverpool via Knock to New York along with two flights a week from Glasgow via Knock to Logan Airport, Boston, since last May.