Flyjet defends flight record after another 14 hour delay
03.08.07
Bosses at charter airline Flyjet defended their flying record last night after their only plane flying out of Newcastle Airport was grounded for a long delay for the third time in 3 month, leading to a 10 hour delay. Over the last 3 months passengers travelling with the airline from Newcastle have been stranded for a total of nearly 70 hours.
Yesterday Flyjet bosses, whose 17-year-old plane is used by a number of holiday companies, insisted their reliability record was 'no worse than any other airline'. They claimed there had only been 3 delays from more than 250 flights, and said the problem was highlighted because the company had just 1 aircraft rather than a fleet.
The company spoke out after the latest incident, which saw more than 200 holidaymakers stuck at the airport for over 14 hours after the plane suffered technical difficulties. The travellers were expecting to take off at 10:00 on Tuesday, but part of the engine lining was sucked into the engine as it landed from its previous flight and bosses had to find a new plane. The flight eventually took off at 12:20 on Wednesday, just over 14 hours late, after the passengers spent a night at an airport hotel.
The delay follows previous problems for the airline at Newcastle International, including a 24 hour delay for 222 passengers bound for Lanzarote, which caused passengers waiting for a flight to the Canary Islands from Newcastle the next day to be delayed by 12 hours. A month earlier passengers heading to Sharm El Sheikh suffered an 8 hour delay.
However, a Flyjet spokesman said: 'Our record of reliability is no different from any other airline. An airplane is obviously a complex piece of machinery and we will not fly with an unsafe aircraft. While other airlines have many planes, we just have the one so when there is problem we have to take it on the chin, rather than just switching things about.'
Airport executives also backed the company's record. Head of planning and corporate affairs at Newcastle Airport, Graeme Mason, said: 'They have operated hundreds of flights out of Newcastle and only 3 have caused delays.'
Flyjet is owned by Luton Airport based all-business class airline Silverjet, who have themselves suffered plane problems recently. Their single daily flight suffered reliability problems in June because of issues with their single plane, and the introduction of a second daily service to New York - using a new second plane - has been delayed for over 2 months whilst these problems are resolved.
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