A TUI flight bound for the Spanish city of Malaga has been delayed for about nine hours due to a technical fault. The flight was due to depart from Antwerp, but it was eventually decided to take passengers to Brussels by bus.
Around 08:00 on Monday morning, a TUI flight to Malaga was grounded in Antwerp due to a technical fault. Spare parts had to be transferred from Brussels to Antwerp Airport, but that caused a lot of delay, a TUI spokesperson told Het Laatste Nieuws.
"The people who had to fly back to Antwerp from Malaga were put on a flight to Brussels instead. From there, they were then taken to Antwerp by bus," he explained.
Additionally, one of the flight attendants had fallen ill, meaning the flight was not allowed to leave. "The plane cannot depart in such a situation. It was not so simple to find someone who could fill in from Antwerp."
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It was then decided that passengers would not depart from Antwerp but from Brussels, with another aircraft – a Boeing 737. Such aircraft are not allowed to land or depart at Antwerp Airport as the runways there are too small.
"People were therefore put on a bus from Antwerp to Brussels to fly to Malaga from there. The flight was scheduled to take off at around 16:15, so the flight was delayed by about nine hours in total."
Affected passengers said they received compensation from TUI in the form of a €15 voucher, but complained about the lack of information they received.
According to the TUI spokesperson, all 107 travellers on the flight to Malaga can expect compensation for the hours-long delay. "They will receive an email in which we will ask them to forward a bank account. We will refund them €400."
