Emergency diversion for Dublin-bound plane that didn’t have enough fuel
Aer Lingus flight from Lanzarote forced to land in Faro
A DUBLIN-BOUND jet flight with up to 170 passengers on board was involved in an emergency diversion yesterday because it did not have enough fuel on board to complete the journey.
The Aer Lingus flight eventually landed back to Dublin yesterday after being stranded in Faro Airport in Portugal.
Flight EI777 was diverted from Lanzarote because it did not have enough fuel. It was due to leave the island off the coast of north Africa at 11.20am and land at Dublin airport by 3.40pm on Saturday.
However, the flight departed 30 minutes late and while in the air, passengers were informed that they were diverting to Faro airport as the plane, an Airbus A320 with up to 170 passengers, ‘was not sufficiently fuelled’, according to one man on board.
Travel industry expert Eoghan Corry said: ‘It is very unusual and it’s a big drama.’
One passenger from the southeast, who asked not to be named, explained: ‘We were stuck on the
‘It makes no sense whatsoever’
plane on the tarmac in Faro for a number of hours until Aer Lingus made up their minds what to do and then eventually allowed us to go into the terminal.
‘We were told that we could be there until Sunday or flown back to Dublin late on Saturday night/ early Sunday morning as the crew had exceeded their flight time.
‘It makes no sense whatsoever that a plane would not be fuelled correctly before taking off from its original departure point of Lanzarote especially with the flight being full.
‘I and many more passengers are asking a lot of questions of the airline, especially being told that we were diverting for what we were told was operational reasons due to fuel issues.
‘Many passengers rebooked flights with Ryanair in a bid to get out of Faro faster and so their baggage was taken off the plane which may delay things even more.’
However, the man, along with several of his friends, sang the praises of the flight crew who continuously kept passengers updated and provided them with tea, coffee and food. ‘They (the crew) seemed at a loss as to why this is happening too. There were talks of a reserve crew being flown out from Dublin to bring us home. There are a lot of unhappy people because of this,’ the businessman added.
A spokesman for Aer Lingus explained: ‘Aer Lingus flight EI777, travelling from Arrecife, Lanzarote to Dublin (on Saturday), was required to make a fuel stop in Faro due to departure weight restrictions in Arrecife airport.
‘Unfortunately during the stopover, the operating crew went out of hours and were unable to operate the flight home. To prevent the flight from being cancelled, relief crew (were) sent to Faro and operated the flight home.’ The spokesman added that they appreciated the obvious inconvenience of the significant delay and ‘apologise to our impacted customers’.
Mr Corry said: ‘It’s a big drama and incurs tens of thousands in costs. The cost of landing in another airport, the diversion, you have to refuel there and pay outside of contract and you could be penalised by the aviation authorities.
‘An extra ten passengers on board means a higher fuel burn. It’s a tiny number and cases and all off that, it’s all heavily calculated.
‘If they’re saying it was “under fuelled” and they had another health breakdown or something like that they didn’t want to publicise, but from our point of view, it’s an unusual thing to happen but it still does happen.’
The calculation of the fuel needed for a journey is a ‘very sophisticated’ process, he said, ‘because if you carry too much fuel it costs you extra in fuel burn because of the extra weight’.
All flights are calculated to include a safety margin for diversions, Mr Corry said, adding: ‘It’s likely it had enough fuel to make it to Dublin but wouldn’t have the fuel for a two-hour hold. There would a safety aspect to it in case they had to divert. During the storm recently many flights had to divert to say Glasgow or even to Brussels.
‘They need excess fuel for, let’s say, a runway closure if something breaks down on the runway. It’s not that the plane was going to fall out of the sky, there’s a safety leeway.’ Flights running low can declare a fuel emergency which prioritises them for landing as some busy airports can have flights in a ‘holding pattern’ for up to 40 minutes, he said.
‘That has happened but it’s very unusual. They’re not suddenly a danger,’ Mr Corry added.
‘It costs you extra in fuel burn’