City’s playing squad and coaching staff travelled on an earlier flight.
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City are unlikely to be troubled by the messages, but it is clear that the Romanian side are keen to use every advantage possible to unsettle Guardiola’s men ahead of a must-win tie.
City play Steaua Bucharest on Tuesday.
A spokesman for Manchester Airport said: “It appears that there was a smell of smoke in the cabin after (the passengers) boarded, so they have been taken back to the departure lounge”.
Firefighters and police raced out to the tarmac and the plane was thoroughly inspected by aircraft engineers. Everyone has disembarked the plane now.
There were no players on board the plane.
‘It was nothing serious, nobody has been injured or hurt’.
Passengers were hurried off the aircraft by the crew as a safety precaution, after a fault occurred with the air conditioning system in the cabin of the Carpatair flight.
The passengers were directed back on to the plane, run by Romanian airline Carpatair, after the inspection and were told it is “perfectly safe”.
The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were alerted and put on standby but were not required to attend.
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The flight – arranged for City’s trip to face Steaua Bucuresti in their Champions League playoff first leg – was heading for takeoff when passengers were told to “leave your stuff – go, go, go”, according to reports.
