When the daily Ryanair flight from London to Eindhoven entered Dutch
airspace this Wednesday, the crew were informed that their destination wa=
s
closed due to the New Year Holiday. The Boeing 737-800 diverted to
Rotterdam and passengers eventually reached their destination by bus.
In the meantime, 150 passengers had gathered at Eindhoven for the retu=
rn
flight, only to find all doors locked.
Ryanair has now promised to send an extra plane today (Thursday) to
collect the unhappy campers.
Eindhoven is a joint use military/civil airport with the airport being=
run by the Dutch Air Force. It is closed on four days every year (New
Year's Day, Easter Sunday, and both Christmas days). The operator of the
civil terminal claims that all airlines are informed about this every yea=
r.
It would seem that Ryanair's copy of this information was mislaid somewhe=
re
on the way. Ryanair started services into Eindhoven this Spring, so it is=
their first season of operations.
Kees de Lezenne Coulander
-- =
C.M. de Lezenne Coulander
Aircraft Development and Systems Engineering B.V.
Hoofddorp, The Netherlands
=