Time loop or time travel in an aeroplane, where the main character disappears to save the others [duplicate]

Question

When: I recall seeing this when I was young so could have been early to mid 1990s.

Setting: It is either based primarily in an aeroplane around the passengers and may also involve the airport but those details are a bit hazy. From what I can remember it wasn't futuristic but set at the current time.

Details: the only real clear details I can recall are at the end the passengers need to go to sleep in their original positions on the plane to get out of their predicament (time loop?), however one passenger needs to stay awake in the cockpit and ends up disappearing once all the others wake up. I believe the problem facing the characters was either time travel or time loop related.

Answer 1

This is almost certainly The Langoliers , a mini series based on the Stephen King novel. The mini series dates from 1995 so fits nicely into the given timeframe.

The story concerns a group of passengers/crew on an airline flight to Boston, they awaken to find all other passengers and crew to have disappeared.

One of crew lands the plane at an airport while they try to understand what has happened.

One of the passengers posits that they have entered a timeloop, and that they need to try to escape from it before the world around them is unmade by the titular Langoliers.

The ending has the plane taking off with all passengers in their seats just ahead of the Langoliers but one of them had to stay awake to fly the plane while the others sleep.