An easyJet flight destined for Faro has to divert to Manchester not long after take-off.
The captain reported "technical problems with the hydraulic system" soon after leaving Liverpool at 09:35 this morning.
The A320 Airbus landed safely at Manchester airport and was sent for repairs. The 179 passengers continued their journey on another specially arranged flight, landing in Faro just after 4pm, rather than the planned 12:25.
EZY7193 left at 09:35 from John Lennon Airport in Liverpool, but was diverted "as a precaution" rather than there being any immediate danger.
Next month there may be delays for different reasons as Portugal’s airport workers union has announced July strikes over poor working conditions.
The airport workers union announces strike notice as it is unhappy with Groundlink which, says the union, has staff handling Ryanair customers’ baggage, illegally under a fraudulent contract.
The SITAVA union today announced a strike notice for 1, 2 and 3 July over the Groundlink deal that has made many baggage handlers’ jobs “precarious,” mainly as they only work when there is work to be done for a Ryanair flight.
"SITAVA announces that, due to the passivity of the government, workers have no alternative but to fight for their jobs so we decided to deliver a strike notice for all baggage handling staff for 1, 2 and 3 July 2016," said the union president, Fernando Henriques, at today’s press conference in Lisbon.
The union leader said that this strike notice covers workers at both Groundforce and Portway, and all the employees from temp agencies and from other service providers working in the handling area.
Union members involved number 1,300 of an estimated total of 5,000 workers in the sector. This is enough striking handlers to cause difficulties and delays.
The main problem is with Groundlink which provides handling services for Ryanair but the 250 workers sacked by Portway, owned by airports operator Vinci, does not help the current mood.
What with July problems on the ground at Portugal’s airports and the almost inevitable summer strikes by French air traffic controllers, the Liverpool flight did well to get its passengers to Faro less than four hours late.
Comments
How is this possible ? The European Airbus consortium make the plane - why is there no European hotline to have unidentifiable problems identified in real time ? Why no substitute plane whilst this one is sent for repairs; obviously possible as its last flight was from its home base in Cairo to Paris with just a 1 hour turnaround ?
Or is the current secrecy due to someone important in EgyptAir insisting that this flight was made .... with the results that happened ? Should there be another kind of hotline established - for pilots and crew to report their doubts about their planes? Anathema though in less developed countries - the whistleblower ! Snitch!