London: A plane's broken down air-conditioning frustrated the passengers so much that they popped opened the emergency exit for fresh air.

Luckily, the flight in Brazil was still on ground and the crew were about to leave the airport when the cabin crew and the passengers refused to travel in the conditions described as being like a "sauna," the Mirror reported.

The aircraft was meant to fly from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo, and the situation captured on video shows the travellers fanning themselves in 40C heat for an hour as they waited.

In a statement the airline, Gol, said the air conditioning units used on the ground were defective but that "no measures were spared to minimise the discomfort to passengers."

The passengers later boarded another fully functioning aircraft.