A Ryanair 738 with 300 PAX..!!????

[JanetFlight]

They must be kidding, no...:ugh:

Passenger jet skips final destination for lack of air traffic controller, lands in Berlin | Top Russian news and analysis online | 'RIA Novosti' newswire (http://en.rian.ru/world/20100309/158141926.html)

However all the story its weird...:8

Or besides Catering, Bus, Cleaning, etc, are they also now sparing some money in dispensing ATC Services..?:p

[FEHERTO]

A lot of German controller are employees with job protection, meaning it is nearly impossible to fire them. I hope this time somebody has to go, as this is absolutely crazy. Does a doctor go home during a surgery just because his/her shift is finished?

[PoloJamie]

AVH seems to have more realistic information - 150 pax.
Incident: Ryanair B738 at Altenburg on Mar 7th 2010, tower where are you? (http://avherald.com/h?article=42867522&opt=0)

Either way, this is a rather thought provoking incident...

[wozzo]

Does a doctor go home during a surgery just because his/her shift is finished?

Consider Altenburg as a very cheap hospital with exactly 1 patient (Ryanair) and 1 operation (London Stansted) a day. I guess ist wouldn't be staffed 24/7. AFAIK, there was a scheduling misunderstanding - it wasn't clear, who was supposed to come in that day.

[A-3TWENTY]

Fire the controller????? Why????

What about firing who did the roaster????

If I just come from a 11 hour shift and someone in the company ask me to make another flight because they have no crew,and the flight will be cancelled.
Should I fly ilegally??? should I fly 24 hours??

The controllers have their limitations as well. This is very nice to say but if something happens , nobody will say that the controller was a nice guy and was avoiding to close the airport becaus he has nobody to substitute him.

Come on !!

[FEHERTO]

A-3TWENTY: Nobody says fire the controller ! This is your interpretation of my words "somebody has to go". This could be the ATC Boss of the airport, the one who makes the roaster or maybe the controller, when he has a responsibility for such bad work.

I assume that we talk about the approach and ground controller in one person. When you are familar with German ATC rules, you can read that in cases service cannot be continued, the regional ATC Center must be informed. This shoudl have been done as the minimum by anybody of the people involved, before leaving the tower and stay unstaffed.

[BEagle]

Was 'real' Leipzig Halle also closed? Or Dresden??

Or maybe FR realised that non-one actually wanted to go to some ex-WP military aerodrome in the middle of nowhere and that Berlin might be where most people wanted to go?

On second thoughts I doubt it - that would have required some consideration for the passengers. Which is well known not to be a Ryanair priority.

Still, at least they were spared that 'on time arrival' nonsense....

[JW411]

I would imagine that SXF was the company preferred alternate so it is an eminently reasonable and sensible choice.

I would imagine it is only about 20-25 minutes flying time in a 738.

[Global Warrior]

Why the hell did he not bring his 9 year old son in to cover the absent controller? They proved it works at JFK :D:D:D

[RedhillPhil]

Please Sir can I just point out that the aircraft cannot skip it's "final destination" - there's only one destination.

[raffele]

I don't see the reference to 300 passengers...

[Meering]

Either it's a new Ryanair moneymaking scheme or rubbish journalism. In this case the latter (surprise!):

Ryanair jet abandons landing after air traffic controller debacle - mirror.co.uk (http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/03/12/ryanair-jet-abandons-landing-after-air-traffic-controller-debacle-115875-22105222/)

"A Ryanair jet from Britain with 300 passengers aboard had to abandon a landing after the air traffic controller failed to turn up."

Meering

[Less Hair]

I have heard about it in Germany. Press over here claimed: total 300 pax affected. (in and out) So it is still 189 each way max.

[demomonkey]

I feel sorry for the 111 or so pax who not only got diverted but obviously had to have another passenger sit on there lap as there aren't 300 seats on a 737-800. Oh my mistake, they'd have been seated on the loo - it is Ryanair after all! :)

[Less Hair]

Must have huge restrooms then.

[DIA74]

NO, - they don't have huge restrooms on FR.

To be sure, it's the "little people" Ryanair fly. Latest fares are on a sliding scale according to how many inches tall pax are. Fares are a steal for those under 3 inches. FR can easily cram 120 of them into a loo. But FR have not become a charity - oh no! They've worked it all out. 3 inch tall people cannot carry much hand baggage to get around the checked baggage charges, so the ancillary revenue stream is a winner.

Problems so far - little people have been buying one FR sandwich and sharing it around. And, the scratch cards are too big for them to scratch. FR are doubtless working on mini goodies - at premium rates. Not sure what they do about Oxy masks and lifejackets, but you could push the whole lot down a chute with one hand.

[sprocky_ger]

"Was 'real' Leipzig Halle also closed? Or Dresden??"

No, but as local media report Ryanair is not "listed" there. Hence they've chosen Berlin.