Thousands of airline passengers landed in the wrong destination or even in the wrong country as Storm Isha caused havoc across Ireland and the UK.
Travelling to and from Ireland and the UK became a hassle over the last couple of days as the storm led to dozens of flight cancellations and diversions. Airports in both countries were badly hit by the storm, with winds carving across the runways at 90 mph.
Many flights had already reached their destinations before failing to land and diverting to continental Europe for a safer landing. Among the airlines, Ryanair was especially affected since its base is Dublin. A mammoth 166 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled on Sunday, according to Kevin Cullinane, group head of communications at DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport.
It is also understood that the Dublin Airport also saw 36 flight diversions and 34 go-arounds – where planes chose not to land and decided to go around for another try.
A Ryanair flight from Spain’s Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, to Dublin did make it to the Irish capital but turned around and diverted to Bordeaux, France, without attempting to land.
Another Ryanair plane landed in the wrong destination. Flight FR555, flying from Manchester to Dublin, came close to landing but eventually was diverted 500 miles to Paris, where the calmer weather made touching the tarmac possible. The flight reportedly spent around two-and-a-half hours on the runway in France before flying back to its original destination in Ireland.
“Flew from Manchester to Dublin today, only we didn’t land in Dublin, or back to Manchester. Bonjour from Paris!” a passenger onboard the flight wrote online
A British Airways flight, heading from the Spanish island of Ibiza to London City Airport, was also struck by the gusty weather and was diverted to Bristol. Nervous passengers on board erupted into applause when the pilot successfully landed safely amid the nightmare weather conditions.
Several passengers were left stranded at Bristol Airport overnight as their flights were either delayed or cancelled.
Meanwhile, another Manchester-Dublin flight circled back and forth between the UK and Ireland for over three hours but did not land in Dublin. The plane then made a go-around at Belfast before circling over Glasgow. It eventually landed in Liverpool, around 31 miles away from the departure airport in Manchester.
There were over 100 go-arounds at UK airports, according to NATS, the UK’s air traffic control operator.
“Isha made its presence felt in the south of England and Ireland, where the winds were gusting 70-75 mph, south-westerly which meant crosswinds at our major airports in the south, with wind shear and turbulence adding extra challenges for flight crews,” Steve Fox, head of network operations for NATS, wrote on its website.
