An easyJet pilot was given a ‘round of applause’ by passengers after explaining the reason behind a delayed flight at Isle of Man airport.

Ronaldsway’s fire crews were dispatched to investigate an apparent issue with one of the budget airline’s aircrafts on Friday afternoon.

The Bristol-bound flight had been due to depart the Isle of Man at 4.30pm.

However by 6pm that evening, the aircraft was yet to take off and passengers watched on from the departure lounge as a number of emergency service vehicles descended on the grounded plane.

Pictures taken at the scene showed several fire and rescue vehicles parked at the rear of the aircraft and.

At least one could be seen using what appeared to be a thermal imaging camera to assess a ‘possible problem with one of the engines’ of the plane, according to an eyewitness at Ronaldsway.

At around 7pm, the pilot of the grounded aircraft visited the departure lounge at Isle of Man airport to explain the cause of the delay and the emergency service response at the scene.

An eyewitness told Media Isle of Man: ‘The pilot has just come up to departure lounge and explained there is a leak in the number one engine.

‘easyJet are trying to get a spare aircraft here, but he doesn't know when.

'They're currently formulating a plan.

‘He said that the crew are all Bristol based so keen to get home.

‘He got a round of applause at the end for coming up and delivering the news to us in person.’

A photo of the aircraft taken after the emergency services had left the vicinity, showed what appeared to be a ‘small green bucket’ placed underneath one of the engines.

The incident caused a number of delays to other flights heading to and from the airport on Friday evening.

These included easyJet’s planned 7pm flight to Manchester was delayed by 20 minutes departed at 7.30pm and the airline’s 8.10pm flight to London Gatwick has also been delayed by 40 minutes and departed at 8.50pm.

easyJet managed to secure and send another aircraft from Manchester Airport to ferry the Bristol-bound passengers off the island.

That plane arrived on the Isle of Man just minutes before the Air Traffic Control cut-off time at Ronaldsway.

One passenger on board the Bristol-bound flight said the plane made the journey in less than 40 minutes before landing at the airport at around 11.30pm

The crew that manned the new aircraft were then ferried back to Manchester Airport from Bristol via taxi.