Passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight couldn’t have imagined the reason their take-off was held up at the Orlando International Airport in Florida.

An alligator was casually sauntering along the taxiway, forcing the flight to halt for five minutes. Turns out the animal was endeavouring to get from one lake to another on the opposite side.

Anthony Velardi, who was one of the passengers, posted a video (above) of the reptile, taken from the plane’s window, on his Facebook page. The official twitter account of the airport also posted a video of the alligator walking across the taxiway.

Veraldi told the Orlando Sentinel that the flight’s pilot went on the public addressing system to inform fliers about the reason behind the hold-up. “It was definitely unexpected but as a Floridian not surprising,” he added.