Passengers who left Bermuda on Sunday’s British Airways service departed without their luggage after a problem with loading machinery.

Travellers waited on board for some time before take-off but were then told the flight had to leave without their bags.

A spokeswoman for Skyport said that Menzies Aviation, the sole ground handling agency at LF Wade International Airport, operates two pieces of machinery that are essential for loading and offloading baggage and cargo on British Airways and Cargojet flights.

She said: “No other scheduled flights require the use of this equipment.

“Unfortunately, on March 31, both machines were temporarily inoperable due to pending repairs.

“The necessary parts had been shipped to the airport but were awaiting clearance and delivery.

“This situation led to the disruption in baggage-handling services for the affected flights.

“Skyport has been advised by Menzies that the required parts have now been received and their team is working diligently to complete the repairs on the equipment.

“We expect the baggage-handling operations to resume as normal once the repairs are finalised.”

A spokeswoman for BA added: “We have apologised to our customers and are working hard to reunite them with their bags as soon as possible, following a baggage-loading issue in Bermuda.”

The BA flight was due to depart Bermuda at 9.05pm local time. One passenger said she was still at the airport at 9.45pm on Sunday.

She said passengers were told that the baggage-loading machines were broken and that an engineer was on a day off.

She added that the engineer did eventually come but could not fix the problem and so the flight left with everyone’s luggage still on board.

Last May, passengers on the BA flight from London Heathrow were also left without bags owing to a technical problem, which was later resolved.