A British Airways cabin crew member accidentally deployed the emergency slide on an aircraft in the second incident of its kind this month and the third so far this year.

The latest accident, which happened after a BA flight landed in Madrid, is estimated to have cost the airline £50,000.

Earlier this month, a BA steward on her debut flight mistakenly activated the emergency slide as the plane taxied to the runway at Heathrow on 11 June.

In January this year, another new BA cabin crew member activated the emergency slide at London Heathrow moments before the flight took off to Lagos.

In the latest incident on Tuesday, the inflatable exit was launched after the plane had touched down in the Spanish capital from Heathrow.

The error was reportedly made by a crew member who had been flying with BA for more than a year but had only just returned to service after sick leave.

The return service, BA461, was delayed by more than three hours.

A BA spokesperson said: “We’ve apologised to customers for the delay and made sure they were able to continue their journey as soon as possible.”