Edinburgh passengers faced significant disruption to two flights after a private jet allegedly broke down and blocked a Tenerife runway.
Easyjet flight 3201 which travelled from the capital to the Spanish island was forced to divert to Gran Canaria after the disruption in Tenerife on Thursday January 2.
It briefly refuelled before returning to its original destination after the runway had been cleared.
FlightRadar claimed an ‘executive jet’ had ‘blocked the runway at Tenerife South airport after landing’ which led to the airport not being operational until the plane was towed away.
They added this led to ‘diversions to alternative airports and delays for safety reasons.’
Join Edinburgh Live’s Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.
Due to the cabin crew having to refuel in Gran Canaria and travel onto Tenerife, they were then unable to operate on the EZY3202 flight back to Edinburgh within their safety regulated operating hours.
It is claimed there were limited hotel options for easyjet customers in Tenerife and as a result, flight 3202 travelled to Madrid where passengers stayed overnight with meals provided before continuing its journey on Friday January 3.
A spokesperson for easyjet said: “Due to the temporary closure of the Tenerife runway on 2 January, flight EZY3201 from Edinburgh to Tenerife was required to divert to Gran Canaria where the aircraft refuelled and continued to Tenerife when the runway reopened. As a result, the crew of flight EZY3202 were unable to operate back to Edinburgh within their safety regulated operating hours.
Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox
“As hotel accommodation in Tenerife was extremely limited, the flight operated to Madrid where we could provide customers with hotel accommodation and meals, before continuing the flight today.
“The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is easyJet’s highest priority and while this was outside of our control, we are very sorry for the inconvenience caused by the runway closure.”