The imitation weapon was discovered in a passenger’s hold bag, which was checked in, on a Germania service on Tuesday morning.
All passengers were asked to leave the aircraft and pass back through security. The captain and the airport authorities also requested a ‘full search of all hold luggage’.
The flight was due to leave at 8.15 am but did not depart until 12.08 pm.
One passenger who was on board said all passengers had to leave the aircraft and go back through security ‘because someone had a toy gun in their luggage’.
A spokesman for Ports of Jersey said he could not confirm what was found but said it was a ‘restricted item’.
He said: ‘I can confirm, on behalf of Ports of Jersey, that a restricted item was discovered in hold luggage due to travel on the direct Germania air service between Jersey and Funchal on Tuesday.
‘As a result, in the interests of safety and security, which of course is paramount, both the aircraft captain and airport authorities requested a full security search of all hold luggage. Due to the large volume of luggage this inevitably led to a delay to this morning’s departure, which eventually left at 12.08 pm.’
According to the Germania website ‘devices capable, or appearing capable, of being used to cause serious injury by discharging a projectile, including firearms, replica and imitation firearms’ are banned from flights.
