Donegal passengers on flight diverted to Portugal due to lack of fuel

A number of Donegal passengers were on a flight that had to be diverted due to insufficient fuel on board to allow it to reach its planned destination.

The flight, from Lanzarote to Belfast, had to make an unscheduled stop in Porto in Portugal to enable it to take on extra fuel so it could complete its journey.

What should have been a four hour flight took around five and a half hours.

“Everything was normal when mid-way through the flight, the captain made an announcement to say that we were going to have to land in Portugal to take on more fuel,” one Donegal passenger recalled. “The captain explained that due to a ‘flight-planning error’ that they had not enough fuel to complete the trip to Belfast.

“The initial reaction was that most people found it surprising that such an error had been made, but could understand the reason why the plane had to be diverted.”

The TUI flight, with around 180 passengers on board, was around an hour and a half into its scheduled trip from Arrecife, the capital of Lanzarote, to Belfast International Airport when the announcement was made.

The plane, which had been heading northwards up along the Portuguese coast, had to switch direction and head south-easterly to land in Porto, Portugal’s second busiest airport.

The plane was on the ground for almost exactly an hour.

Having taken on fuel, it then took-off again, to head for Belfast.

“The diversion and extra flying time was frustrating for people, but they generally accepted the situation. What was annoying for some, though, was the limited in-flight service available,” the passenger noted, adding: “They also had no duty free, which is unusual on such services. It turned out to be a long flight, but nobody had any issues with the need to refuel. But you do wonder why such a mistake could be made.”

The TUI flight, using a Canadian Sunwings Boeing 737-800 aircraft, was scheduled to leave Lanzarote at 7.55 pm last Thursday. It officially departed at 8.26 pm, and landed in Porto just over an hour and a half later. The flight eventually arrived in Belfast at 1.51 am.