Airline ban affects thousands of tourists....

merlin · 14th May 2005, 13:25

Some eight thousand Dutch people were stuck in Turkey Thursday after authorities in The Hague grounded a Turkish air company because of fears about the airworthiness of its planes.
Esat Aksak, a spokesman for the Turkish airline in question Onur Air, said it would do everything possible to repatriate its passengers.

"We do everything we can to keep our planes in good working order," he insisted, describing the Dutch decision as injust.

Onur Air makes 300 weekly flights from Turkey to Belgium, Austria, Germany and Spain and some 75 to the Netherlands.

Another airline, Martinair, said Thursday it would shuttle between 1,500 and 2,000 of the Onur Air passengers back to the Netherlands this weekend.

Merv!

puma · 14th May 2005, 15:54

not surprised travelled with them once and that was enough[v]

teresa · 14th May 2005, 16:29

I used them once some years ago and they were ok - the plane was brand new at the time.

Teresa

alain01 · 14th May 2005, 20:09

I used em too...no prob but they still allowed smoking (5 yrs ago)...Alan.

ria · 15th May 2005, 02:30

I've been with them a couple of times and they were very generous with the vodka!

maria x

mik@jan · 15th May 2005, 03:08

Travelled with these quite a few times with no problems always left on time and free soft drinks all through the flight and they serve EFES

mik@jan[8D]

teresa · 15th May 2005, 11:57

SO - the only thing that is bothering me. UK was not on the list of countries revoking their licence, do they still fly from the UK?

Teresa

merlin · 15th May 2005, 12:01

Update....

The directors of the Turkish charter airline Onur Air are due to meet with Dutch aviation authorities on Monday to discuss the landing ban imposed on its aircraft. The Turkish airline maintains that there is nothing wrong with its planes.

The Turkish government also wants an explanation for the ban but it has confirmed that it will not take retaliatory measures against airlines from the countries where Onur Air has been prevented from landing. In addition to the Netherlands, these are Germany, France and Switzerland.

Merv!

alain01 · 15th May 2005, 17:53

Would have thought that if Onur Air could produce international certificate of airworthiness there would be no problem..

peter the postie · 16th May 2005, 12:19

Not quite as simple as that alain. The certificate of airworthiness relates to any single aircraft.. not its fleet.
Personally i flew with them last year and it was terrifying.. never again.