Updated at 3.55pm
HUNDREDS OF CUBAN and Spanish airline passengers had to sleep in Shannon Airport overnight, after technical problems with their plane.
Their charter flight, aboard carrier Cubana, took off from Madrid yesterday afternoon en route to Havana. It landed at Shannon for refueling – but a problem was uncovered, and the passengers had to spend the night in the terminal, as it was too late to find hotels for them.
A spokesperson for the airport has now confirmed that the flight (finally) took off this evening at 5.38pm, much to the relief of its passengers, we’re sure.
Between 250 and 300 passengers spent five hours on the Shannon tarmac aboard the 767-300 before being allowed off – at which point it was after midnight.
A man who contacted TheJournal.ie on behalf of his adult children, who were in the group, said they had been left stranded by the plane’s crew.
A report on Cuban news website Diario de Cuba said passengers were given a number of different reasons for the delay, including a wheel mechanism failure.
TheJournal.ie has contacted the airline for comment.
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