The incident occurred on the ground in Manchester, before the last flight’s departure on 12 July.
Aurigny’s chief operations officer, Philip Saunders, said a passenger seated at the front of the aircraft was attempting to show another passenger how the door operated, and accidentally opened the exit.
'This is an incident that shouldn’t happen, but can happen quite easily,’ he said. It served as a reminder to those seated in emergency rows not to touch the doors unless in an emergency.
‘The airline has no doubt that the door was opened in error and it was in no way a malicious act,’ said Mr Saunders.
‘I’m sure it was a highly embarrassing moment for the passenger, but believe it or not it can happen and it does happen. No matter how or where the doors are opened – they always need to be reset by a proper, qualified engineer for that specific aircraft. Which is why it caused such a significant disruption to the flight.’
The passengers were disembarked, and had to wait overnight for the next flight to Guernsey on Monday.