Many European airports reported disruptions this week, with reasons ranging from the French ATC strike to drone sightings. As always, airport-side delays are non-claimable.
On May 3rd, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787-9 was climbing out of London Heathrowto perform a flight to Shanghai Pudong (China) when a bird hit the nose of the airplane. The crew stopped the ascend, turned around and landed back at Heathrow. A replacement plane took the passengers to Shanghai with a 3 hour delay.
On May 5th, A KLM Boeing 737 was landing in Amsterdam when the left engine made a bang and started showing streaks of flames. The plane landed safely. Crew reported a possible bird strike.
On the 6th of May, a Srilankan Airbus A330-300 flying from Colombo (Sri Lanka) to London Heathrow experienced a hydraulic failure and had to take off. A replacement plane reached London about 11 hours late.
A Jet2.com was climbing out of Glasgow when it experienced a problem with the cabin pressure. The plane had to land at Manchester 45 minutes later. A replacement plane took the passengers to Alicante with a delay of 2 hours.
On the 8th, a Joon en route to Mumbai from Paris Charles de Gaulle had to divert and land in Isfahan (Iran) due to what was initially reported as “security reasons” and later clarified as “malfunctioning ventilation circuit.” Smells like a claim to me!
On Thursday, a SAS Scandinavian Airlines plane was on final approach to Gothenburg (Sweden) when the crew decided to go for a turn around. The go around lasted 10 minutes and the plane landed safely. The crew had reported smoke aboard, but the emergency services found none. There were no injuries.
On the same day, a TUI fly Belgium plane was climbing for a flight from Brussels to Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). The crew reported an overheating brake and stopped the climb. The plane landed back in Brussels 70 minutes later. The same craft took off again after 3 hours and 50 minutes. As the final delay is to reach Punta Cana is above 3 hours, this looks very much like a claim.
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