Hundreds of holidaymakers are stranded 1,200 miles from their destination after an easyJet flight from Manchester to Antalya was cancelled on the runway and a replacement service was diverted to Milan.
Travellers on the Friday (August 28) service claim they were ordered off the runway just ten minutes before departure. One passenger reported being about to board when they were instructed to return to the terminal.
Weather delays and crew duty limits
The carrier blamed weather-related delays, which meant the crew would exceed their legally permitted hours. After waiting over four hours, passengers initially scheduled to leave at 7.45am finally got airborne around midday once replacement crew members had been secured, the Manchester Evening News understands.
Once in the sky, travellers say they were told the flight had to be diverted to Milan because staff could no longer legally continue working due to reaching their duty-time restrictions.
Passengers face chaos at Milan Airport
Passengers, described as mainly families with young children, found themselves at Milan Airport. They have been given a €25 food voucher while awaiting a fresh crew, reportedly flying out from Manchester and expected to arrive at approximately 7.30 local time (6.30pm GMT).
Passenger James Lanson, travelling with his wife and two-year-old daughter, spoke to the Manchester Evening News from Milan. He described the ordeal as deeply challenging: "It's been unbelievably difficult with our toddler. She hasn't eaten, she can't understand what's going on. There's no facilities in this airport for her or any of the other kids. I used to work as a prison officer and the prison that I used to work in kept the prisoners in better condition."
He recounted: "We got on the coach, drove to the airplane and pulled up next to it and the doors didn't open. The bus driver said the pilot had called in sick and that he was gonna have to take us back to the airport. So me, being a scouser, I thought it was a little bit of humour and he was gonna say he was joking and tell us to have a good holiday. But no, he drove us back to the terminal and they said they were trying to source us a new pilot."
Voucher and limited facilities
Lanson added: "We were due to get there at 12pm. We thought we'd get there nice and early and have a full day there today. So it's a great start to the holiday, which was meant to be seven days and is now going to be six days."
He questioned the weather explanation: "I've been looking at Flight Radar and planes have been landing in Antalya all day, so I don't know where this thing with this problem with the weather has come from. But a Jet2 flight took off just before ours was due to leave and that's landed in Antalya a couple of hours ago. And we've just seen our old crew leave five minutes ago and get on a flight home. Which is great, while we're stuck here."
He said: "They've given us a €25 voucher but the only place you can use it in this really small, tiny airport is a Pret. I think I've gone back about five or six times since we landed, so in three hours, and the queue's enormous and it's not moving. It's a sh**show. We've been told the crew that are coming to fly our plane to take us to Antalya are coming from Manchester. No one's given us any information. All they've done is given us a voucher." His two-year-old child had not eaten since 8am, with the Pret outlet struggling to keep up with food supplies.
EasyJet confirmed the flight was delayed owing to air traffic control restrictions caused by adverse weather across Europe, adding that the delay would have caused the crew to breach their legally permitted working hours, prompting an unscheduled stop in Milan to swap out the crew. According to the Manchester Evening News, the aircraft is set to be refuelled before continuing its journey on to Antalya.
An easyJet spokesperson said: "We are sorry for any inconvenience this will have caused and did all we could to minimise the impact of the disruption. The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is always easyJet's highest priority."
