A Eurowings aircraft in flight on a sunny day. Photo credit: Facebook, Eurowings Official
Passengers who wanted to fly from Germany to Mallorca had to watch in disbelief as their plane took off without them because they had only been informed that there would be a delay.
The traffic disruptions caused by the storm that hit Mallorca in mid-August were not limited to road traffic. On Wednesday, August 14, at the height of the summer storm, a Eurowings plane that was supposed to fly from Saar Airport in Ensheim to Palma took off empty, leaving disbelieving passengers at the airport.
Stunned passengers remain stranded
According to a report in the Saarbrücker Zeitung, passengers were boarding Eurowings flight EW6819 to Palma when they were informed that there would be a delay of several hours in departure due to extreme weather conditions. Passengers were asked to leave the plane and take their hand luggage with them while they waited. However, they were stunned when the plane took off shortly afterwards, leaving them behind at the airport.
In a statement, Eurowings said that time slots for arriving and departing flights were limited and the delay had already cost the airline valuable time by the time the plane was cleared for takeoff. It had therefore decided to minimise further disruption to subsequent flights by taking the opportunity to fly without passengers. Waiting for passengers to re-board would have cost additional time and risked a domino effect that would have affected the scheduled flights of around 500 people, including those waiting for their return flight in Mallorca.
The passengers who remained behind at Ensheim Airport were informed of the cancellation of their flight and therefore had to look for other flights from Düsseldorf or Cologne to reach their destination in Mallorca.
