An airline has denied it removed a group of 44 French Jewish children because of their identity.
Spanish budget carrier Vueling insisted cabin crew were forced to eject a group of 52 passengers due to their ‘highly disruptive behaviour’ onboard.
The children from the Club Kineret camp were returning to Paris after travelling to Valencia.
The youth group has said it is has filed a formal complaint the airline, which is part of the group that owns British Airways, after it said cabin crew showed an ‘antisemitic’ attitude towards them.
Video footage which circulated after the incident on Wednesday appeared to show one adult member of the party being detained by Guardia Civil officers on the jetbridge outside the aircraft.
In a statement through its legal representatives, Club Kinaret said: ‘The Club Kineret association wishes to formally and categorically deny allegations from Vueling Airlines suggesting that incidents were caused by the minors it was supervising on Vueling Flight VY8186.
‘The facts are clear, serious, established and corroborated by multiple testimonies. They describe a scene of rare, unjustified and clearly biased brutality. 44 infants were disembarked from the aircraft, without a valid explanation, on orders of the captain onboard.’
‘These children, supervised by 7 adults, had just completed a cultural stay. They were seated in their seats, respectful of the rules and the staff. No incident, no threat, no inappropriate behaviour was reported.’
But Vueling said a decision was made to remove the group following behaviour which ‘compromised the integrity of the flight’, including tampering with emergency equipment and disrupting the safety demonstration.
It further accused some members of the youth group of taking a ‘confrontational attitude’ and said that ‘aggressive’ behaviour continued into the terminal after the passengers disembarked from the flight.
The airline said in a statement: ‘The actions of the on-board staff were solely in response to behaviour that compromised the integrity of the flight, as well as the safety of passengers and the operation as a whole.’
‘We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew’s decision related to the religion of the passengers involved.
‘This decision was taken solely to ensure the safety of all passengers. At Vueling, we categorically reject any form of discrimination without exception.’
A spokesperson for the Guardia Civil said the group was taken off the plane for repeatedly ignoring cabin crew instructions.
It added that half the group boarded another flight that evening with another airline, while the rest stayed overnight at a hotel.
The Federation of Spanish Jewish Communities said it was ‘concerned’ about the incident and demanded an explanation from Vueling as to how serious the childrens’ behaviour was to be asked to leave the aircraft.
It said: ‘Airlines have responsibility to guarantee respect and dignity for all passengers, without exception.
‘The FCJE believes that these types of incidents, which cause great worry and concern and affect minors, require clear and responsible institutional responses.’
Further questions were raised after it transpired that the flight’s captain, Ivan Chirivellas, had trained two terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Spain’s Transport Minister Oscar Puente also came under fire for hisr response to the incident, in which he erroneously referred to the French youths as ‘Israeli kids’.
He wrote on X: ‘Are the patriots with Vueling? Those with law and order with aviation safety? Or will they all stick together with the Israeli kids?’
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