Brussels Airlines passengers headed to Angola on Sunday had a very long journey, as reported by Aviation24.
Continue reading: Brussels Airlines’ Very Long Flight To Luanda
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It's impossible to really critique this decision without having visibility of all the variables in play regarding airspace, crew, pax connections on the other end, etc.. which we obviously don't have. Not the first time something like this has happened, and won't be the last either.
Wonder if they could just charter a bus from Kinshasa, not sure how the roads and conditions are in that part of the world!
Kinshasa is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Luanda is in Angola. There may be travel restrictions between those two countries which makes it difficult to carry the passengers by land.
I assume that the crew change was planned for Kinshasa anyway, not Luanda, otherwise the flight couldn't have continued back to Brussels normally with the same crew. I don't see how this is a staffing issue since the replacement crew could have probably flown back the same route (via Luanda) in the opposite direction without timing out.
So perhaps the aircraft was needed back in Brussels on time for its next planned flight? But the plane did in fact not depart on its next flight (to Accra) until a day later, so it would have had plenty of time to take a detour of approx 2-3 hours added flight time.
I'm guessing that the airline just did the math.
Remember this is an EU based airline flying to/from an EU destination, so they are obliged to pay out EC261 compensation. After a minimum delay of 3 hours it's 300 € per pax. After 4 hours it's 600 €. (doesn't matter if it's 4 hours of 24 hours, the compensation amount is the same after that time limit). Passengers bound for Luanda were gonna be over 4 hours late anyway, even if the airline had decided to fly back to Brussels via Luanda. And so were the new passengers that they'd picked up from Luanda. But with that detour,the new passengers heading from Kinshasa to Brussels would now have been over 4 hours late too. Instead, with the direct flight that they took, the last leg arrived only 2 hours late in Brussels (=no grounds for compensation).
Note that the airline didn't even have to pay anyone for hotel accommodation in Brussels since they just sent the poor b*stards right back to Luanda on the next flight.
So yeah, I hope they enjoyed their 600 euros...
If you asked any sane person whether they want to travel from Kinshasa to Luanda by bus or a round the world plane trip, the answer is almost always going to be the flight. That 400 miles by crow takes about 12 hours not including the border check through jungle and an escarpment and a foggy coastline.
There will be no 600 EUR compensation as this was an exceptional circumstance outside the control of the airline.
Airspace was closed for the arrival of the Turkish President. Absolute idiocy. They know the commercial flights operating, and it wasn’t a surprise.
Various COVID protocols (which can be unnecessarily convoluted) are in place and they change at a moment's notice. This makes it even harder to land and dump pax off in an alternate country. This would have been complicated even before the 'vid. Also, whatever you may think of Luanda, it is far more developed and able to accommodate visitors than the mess that is the DRC. Sadly, SN had no other option.
Whether the circumstance was within the airline's control or not is irrelevant as far as EU261/2004 is concerned. The only test for a valid exception is "extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken".
Who must action the reasonable measure is not defined, so it may be demonstrated that any third party may also have such capacity. This particular circumstance could possibly have been avoided if the Government of Angola had taken reasonable measures to avoid closing their airspace. Therefore, it can be argued that the liability still exists towards the passenger on the part of Brussels Airlines. In turn, Brussels Airlines may choose to seek to recover such damages from the Government of Angola or indeed the Government of Turkey if they should so desire, and if the relevant courts accept to process such actions.
I have personal experience attempting to defend a claim (in Germany) under a very similar circumstance (African country airspace closed due to VIP movement, resulting in flight diversion/delay). The advice from the LBA there was similar to the summary provided above. However the final claim was dismissed on the basis that a non-EU carrier is not liable for delays at originating points outside the EU, and not on the basis that airspace closure by Government authorities is an "extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken". An EU carrier may indeed have been held liable in the same circumstance.
Couldn't the SN crew just hold West of Luanda until other diversions are out and enough to only land in Luanda then declare Mayday?
I can only assume you are trolling here, because if that is a serious question I really don't know how to respond.
Since i am Angolan, i understand how frustate is nota Boeing able to land with to airport closure due to VIP, i havê been couple off times in this situation while arriving at Luanda Airport. There, i AM nota airport specialist land i do nota know how to rules works for these companies, but i think if they drove passenger from kinsasha to Cabinda, problaby they could negotiate with TAAG angola airline to take passenger from Cabinda to Luanda which 45 Lins flight, instead off going all the way Jack to Brussels. ' just thoughts'
There are no roads between those two cities. Even if has it, i would not took that bus. It wold be suicide. I rather fly back to brussels. You have to be crazy to take buses in most of the Africans countries. And i am Angolan...
Stupid decision to fly back to Brussels. Wait at least 1 hour and off load in Luanda. Closing airspace for vip takes couple of hours . it happened to me in Kinshasa twice!!
I am dead serious.
What would prevent SN not to wait a bit longer hoping the airspace opens soon or until LAD is the only viable landing site. I doubt they will scramble MiGs to shoot them down or let it run out of fuel in the ocean.
If anything the airline would just piss off Angola and maybe Turkey, a equal return favor for stupid decisions.
And you would know that, Daniel. Finnair with the complicity of Finnish authorities is THE ABSOLUTE CHAMPION at denying due EC 261 compensation.
I am one of the (very) few people who beat them at at it, quite a proud achievement.
Why not fly to Lusaka and wait till Luanda reopens. Much more comfortable and cheaper for SN.
Catumbela and Lubango in Angola both have international airports. It would be much easier and cheaper for the airline to land there and then arrange transfer of the passengers to Luanda