Ben Pawlowski
NEARLY 300 passengers were left stranded on a remote Atlantic Ocean island for a day after a Delta jet departing Madrid was forced into an emergency landing.
Some 282 passengers and 13 crew were onboard Delta flight 127 from Spain’s capital to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday when the Airbus A330 was forced to land on Terciera Island in the Azores archipelago, a remote set of volcanic islands administered by Portugal.
The flight was diverted to the town of Lajes, home to an air force base run by the US government.
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Passengers were forced to spend over 29 hours on the remote island – home to just over 50,000 people – after what a Delta spokesperson described as an ‘indication of a mechanical issue with an engine’.
“The flight landed safely, and we sincerely apologise to our customers for their experience and delay in their travels,” the spokesperson added.
The airline confirmed they would be offering compensation to the customers impacted by the diversion.
Once on the island, passengers were provided with accommodation and meals for the night.
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