A TUI holiday jet bound for the Greek island of Corfu made a 325-mile detour from Norwich to Belfast - to replace a crew member for another flight. The surprising stopover on Friday was the second in the week following a similar occurrence three days previously when an aircraft heading to Palma de Mallorca also diverted to Northern Ireland.
The Corfu flight was scheduled to depart from Norwich airport at 6am on Friday with an estimated time of arrival of 11am at its holiday island destination. But instead it headed for Belfast International in Northern Ireland, where it landed an hour later. The aircraft remained on the ground in Belfast for 33 minutes before finally departing for Corfu, arriving two and a half hours later than scheduled.
This had a knock-on effect for other passengers who were delayed departing from Corfu. The plane should have been used for a 2.10pm for Dalaman in Turkey after returning to Norwich. The aircraft eventually arrived three hours behind schedule and stayed on the ground in Turkey for an hour before departing shortly after midnight, landing in Norwich at 1.52 am the following day, reports SimpleFlying.
The flight on board a Boeing 737-800 jet was operated on behalf of TUI by Canadian operator Sunwing Airlines, which supplies the plane and crew to the UK firm for the summer season, known as a "wet lease."
A spokesperson for TUI Airways apologised for the delay, saying: "We fully understand customers’ frustration due to the delay of flight TOM5528 from Norwich to Corfu on August 19. We can confirm the flight had to make a short stop via Belfast to provide a replacement crew member for another TUI flight."
Earlier in the week, a morning flight from Norwich to Majorca was also diverted to Belfast. Passengers arrived at the Spanish Island destination three and a half hours behind schedule. The aircraft successfully made up time on its return to Norwich, and a subsequent flight to Crete arrived around two hours late.
