Airline passengers across Europe woke up on Tuesday morning (local time) at wrong destinations, even in different countries, due to Storm Isha as it wreaked havoc on flight plans.
Gusts of winds up to 145 km/h sliced runways forcing cancellations, diversions and go-arounds in the UK and Western Europe. Airports in Ireland and the UK were adversely affected. Kevin Cullinane, group head of communications at DAA, the operator of Dublin Airport, told broadcaster CNN that 166 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled on Sunday. The airport also reported 36 flight diversions and 34 go-arounds.
Ryanair was one of the most affected airlines. The Ireland-based operator saw at least two of its flights land in different destinations due to the storm.
A Ryanair flight from Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands which was flying to Dublin almost made it to the Irish capital but was forced to turn around and divert to Bordeaux in France.
The flight did not even attempt to land.
Another Ryanair flight which was flying from Manchester to Dublin ended up in Paris Beauvais after making a go-around, turning a half-hour flight into a two-and-a-half hours. Another flight in the same route went back and forth between the UK and Ireland for over three hours.
It appeared to circle above Dublin and also attempted to get on the ground at Belfast and even circled over Glasgow but ended up in Liverpool which is merely 50kms away from Liverpool.
An easyJet flight from Antalya, Turkey, to Manchester, had made all the way and entered the UK before turning around and making a safe landing in Lyon, France. A Lufthansa flight from Munich to Dublin was forced to do a go-around and return to Munich.
Another Ryanair flight flying from Shannon to Edinburgh flew all the way to Scotland and diverted to Cologne, Germany.
“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 of NATS, the UK’s air traffic control operator, said in a blogpost.
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