Air Slovakia has told The Slovak Spectator that technical problems were the only reason that one of its aeroplanes was diverted to Bratislava on Sunday, January 17.
The plane, with 110 passengers on board, had departed Tirana, Albania, on Sunday bound for Bologna, Italy, on a route that Air Slovakia operates on behalf of its business partner, Albanian Airlines, the TASR newswire reported. However, the flight landed at Bratislava Airport instead of Bologna.
“On Sunday, due to technical problems, the flight was directed by the pilot to Bratislava Airport, which at the same time is Air Slovakia’s maintenance-base,” Tomasz Zeglinski, commercial manager of Slovak Airlines, told The Slovak Spectator. “Due to the complexity of the issue, the captain believed that it would be fixed in the most efficient way over there, and not Italy. This is the only reason why the plane landed in Bratislava, and not Bologna.”
Zeglinski added that Air Slovakia had requested that Albanian Airlines release one of Air Slovakia’s planes based in Tirana to transport passengers from Bratislava to Bologna.
“However we were requested by Albanian Airlines to operate the unable-to-fly plane to Bologna – that’s something that we, or any other professional airline would not do,” he said, adding that the airline therefore provided meals, transfers and hotel accommodation for the passengers.
TASR reported that the passengers left Bratislava Airport on Monday, January 18, on an Amsterdam Airlines plane.
The technical problem is being looked at by Air Slovakia and the Slovak civil aviation authority, Zeglinski said.
Sources: Air Slovakia, TASR
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
