The 37-year-old was in the cockpit of a budget airline plane Sunwing in Calgary, which had more than 100 people onboard, when he was arrested on Saturday. The plane later left for Cancun, Mexico with a different pilot.

Airline staff reportedly noticed the pilot behaving strangely before he then passed out. The authorities were alerted and he was escorted from the cockpit.

He has now been charged with being in charge of an aircraft while being impaired, the BBC said.

Police spokesperson Paul Stacey said: "It had all the potential for a disaster but I’ll tell you this much - the likelihood of a pilot on a major airline like this actually being able to take off when they’re impaired like that is pretty slim, because there’s a lot of checks and balances.

"There’s the other flight crew and there’s gate crew and they’re all about safety… I’m not surprised that he got caught before (the plane) left the terminal."