Tui flight makes 325-mile diversion in wrong direction to ‘pick up crew member’

A recent Greece-bound Tui flight flew 325 miles in the opposite direction to its intended destination in order to pick up an extra crew member.

Passengers on board the flight from Norwich to the Greek island of Corfu on 19 August had to endure a detour to Belfast in Northern Island to collect the employee.

It was the second flight in a week that the airline diverted to Belfast en route to a holiday destination, after a Mallorca-bound service made the same detour on 16 August.

Once the plane landed and the extra crew member had boarded the plane, the aircraft made its way to Corfu on a route that saw it pass straight over Norwich where it had originally taken off from.

The diversion cost the airline an additional 650 miles in fuel and resulted in a nearly two-and-a-half-hour delay, which had a knock on effect on other flights operated by the same aircraft, with delays continuing all the way through Saturday night.

The cause of the diversion was due to the fact that Tui flights out of Norwich are being operated by Canada’s Sunwing Airlines on behalf of the airline during the peak summer season.

While Tui’s cabin crew are trained to operate on the wet-leased aircraft, Sunwing’s own pilots, who are flying the Sunwing jet, aren’t licensed to fly other Tui aircraft.

A spokesperson for Tui previously told The Norwich Evening News this means that “on the rare occasions we do have operational disruption, our recovery options are less straightforward than in some of the larger TUI aircraft bases.

“We also have the added complexity that the broader aviation ecosystem is currently impacted by well-publicised industry-wide issues, which can compound operational disruption.”

The spokesperson said they understood the “frustration” felt by customers and confirmed the flight had to make a short stop to provide a replacement crew member for another Tui flight.