The German holiday airline Tuifly is currently experiencing massive delays. For example, vacationers who wanted to fly from Fuerteventura to Frankfurt am Main had to wait two days for their return flight. The carrier believes that the ACMI market, which was wiped out due to the Champions League final, made a certain contribution.

The main reason, however, is that there were several Tuifly AOG aircraft and the repairs took longer than expected. A company spokesman also explained that the handling capacities at some Greek airports are currently limited, making it easy to catch delays here.

Those vacationers who actually wanted to fly from Fuerteventura to Frankfurt am Main on May 27, 2022 have very little of that. It initially looked like a routine return trip under flight number X32139. But soon the 160 or so passengers received the bad news that the flight would not take place until the next day and that they would be taken to a hotel.

The next day there was another shuttle bus to the airport. Check-in and security checks were carried out as usual. Then, according to those affected, nothing happened for six hours. Only then did two young Tui employees, who were accompanied by securities, appear and brought the new bad news: there will be no flights today either – pick up luggage and go back to a hotel. A wet lease partner would have dropped out at short notice.

Affected passengers criticize that Tuifly or the tour operator Tui only provided insufficient information. A simple handwritten note stuck to the hotel reception desk is said to have been the only source of information for a long time. It was obviously not an isolated case.

Days of delay were not isolated cases

For example, X34262 to Rhodes was also massively delayed and was ultimately cancelled. Numerous passengers said they were brought to Düsseldorf by bus and were scheduled to depart on May 29, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. But that didn't work out for some, as the aircraft used was smaller, so some passengers who hadn't previously checked in online were denied. X34263 from Rhodes to Frankfurt was also affected, as this flight was also delayed by almost two days. Due to the use of a smaller machine, some passengers had to stay behind. Those affected report that the legally required care services are said to have been non-existent and that the passengers were only informed at the airport that there was no flight today, by SMS.

Flight connections to Gran Canaria were also affected. These should have been carried out on Saturday, but it only started on Monday. This also affected the return flights, so that passengers on the Canary Island had to wait around two days for their journey home. Other examples of significant delays at Tuifly are: X34572 – the flight took place on Monday instead of Saturday; X32128 - instead of Monday, the flight was on Tuesday; X32142 – it started on Monday instead of Saturday and X37102 was moved from Sunday to Tuesday.

“Our colleagues in our traffic control center are constantly on duty to reschedule the flights. Unfortunately, yesterday a special machine from an external provider that we had just been promised was canceled without further ado because another machine was needed there for the Champions League final. Exactly this sporting event has unfortunately led to the fact that the possibility of renting additional machines until tomorrow is almost impossible. On behalf of TUI, I can only apologize to our guests and assure them that we are working tirelessly to fly the guests home. Of course, we always want to communicate quickly and transparently, and if we haven't managed to do this here, we'll improve it in the future. In addition, we will issue a separate reparation in the form of an additional travel voucher for the affected guests from Frankfurt, who should then fly home again today," said a Tui spokesman.