Hundreds of Russian tourists have been stranded in Turkey because their flights were cancelled. Some travelers have been waiting for their plane for more than two days.
ANTALYA – At least 400 Russian tourists were stranded at Antalya Airport in Turkey for over two days after a series of plane mishaps Türkiye, informed the Russian airline Red Wings Airlines in a statement on Monday. Some of the travelers were stuck on the plane for eleven hours, and several passengers collapsed. The cause of the chaos is believed to be western sanctions to the Russian airline.
Problems with return flights: Hundreds of Russian vacationers are stuck in Turkey
Two flights of the Russian airline based in Moscow could not take off because the technical problems on the aircraft could not be resolved. The machines in question both belong to the low-cost airline Red Wings Russiareports the Moscow Times: “Two of the three Boeing 777 aircraft in the airline’s fleet were simultaneously out of service due to technical issues,” Red Wings Airlines said in a statement.
The aviation sector is among the industries hardest hit by Western sanctions against Russia. Major aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus have halted deliveries of new aircraft and spare parts to Russia. Technical problems have become more frequent since then. Airlines in the country, for example, have started to reuse parts removed from grounded planes. But that takes a long time.
Victim of western sanctions? Hundreds of Russian tourists are stranded in Turkey because flights are cancelled
The tourists were due to return to Yekaterinburg from the Turkish city of Antalya on Saturday, but the flight was delayed several times without explanation. An “anonymous aviation industry source” told the news website E1.ruthat one of the crashed Boeing-777 was repaired at Moscow’s Zhukovsky Airport. According to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia’s Ural Federal District, in which Yekaterinburg is located, 410 people have been stuck in Turkey for at least 48 hours.
Russian passengers trapped in plane for 11 hours: several people collapse
A second Red Wings flight from Antalya to Zhukovsky Airport in the Moscow region was grounded for more than 11 hours, with three passengers fainting and one passenger suffering a panic attack, according to Mash, a channel of news app Telegram with alleged connections to the Russian security services, reported. A malfunction in the engine cooling system is said to have been the reason why the second Boeing did not take off.
Red Wings said in its statement that it had borrowed an additional aircraft from Russian charter airline Ikar that would transport tourists from Yekaterinburg to Antalya and bring the 410 stranded tourists back on a return flight.
Airlines hit hard by sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, the West imposed severe sanctions on Russia, severely affecting the country’s airline industry.
As a result, the Kremlin announced earlier this year that it would legalize “cannibalization.” Russian engineers are now stripping serviceable parts from some planes to keep others operational — though it often takes a long time. The lack of maintenance on planes has already led to several accidents, according to the independent Russian news agency Arbat reported. So one had to Aeroflot-Flight made an emergency landing in January due to a faulty lavatory system, while another aircraft was forced to land a month later due to an air conditioning malfunction.
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