The airlines are still struggling with tracking errors after the storm Pia. Neither SAS nor Widerøe can promise that everyone will get where they are going before Christmas.
At 04.40 there was already a long queue outside the SAS service counter at Gardermoen. Photo: Henrik Giæver
Sea view
Published: 23.12.2023 13:33 | Updated: 23/12/2023 13:56
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Storm Pia is over, but it is still wreaking havoc with the airlines in the Christmas traffic.
A number of flight departures have been canceled and delayed from Gardermoen on Saturday morning.
The airline Widerøe had to cancel 21 flights on Friday due to the bad weather. 1,500 passengers were affected. On Saturday, the situation is better, but the problems are still not over.
– We have no cancellations, but we will once again come out a bit skewed in the morning today, because yesterday was so intense, says Silje Brandvoll.
She is director of communications and public relations in Widerøe.
Widerøe was far from the only company that had problems in pre-Christmas traffic. On Friday evening, well over half of the departures from Oslo Airport were delayed. In Bergen the situation was even worse.
Crew must rest
Brandvoll explains that several of the delays on Saturday are due to flights arriving late yesterday. Due to statutory rest periods, several departures must wait until the crew is ready.
– The main problem today is that this will cause us to miss a number of onward connections. We want to wait where we can, but if the delays go beyond statutory working hours, it won’t work, she says.
She says the people in question will be contacted by the company, so that they can choose whether they want to stop traveling, or try to find other transport from the place they are going to stop over.
Brandvoll says there is a danger that the situation could worsen over the course of the day if the delays lead to more crews going beyond working hours.
– But the weather is better today, so there is greater hope today that we will be able to fly in the delays during the day, she says.
The weather continues to cause trouble
Norwegian is also struggling with delays.
– We still have a backlog from the problems yesterday and the day before, but in general we have started the day well on most flights, says press officer Eline Hyggen Skari at Norwegian.
She says the weather is still causing delays in some places, including on the routes to Stockholm and Kirkenes. There, plowing of runways and queues for de-icing cause trouble. In Stavanger, the baggage conveyor belt was out of order on Saturday morning, so the passengers were sent away without their luggage. It will now be sent later.
– Our goal is to get all passengers home for Christmas and where they are going, says Skari.
As always, she advises travelers to allow plenty of time to get to the airport and meet the flight as agreed.
– If there are changes, people will be contacted directly via SMS, she says.
Queued last night
SAS has canceled several flights to Europe on Saturday morning and has a number of delayed departures. A total of 15 SAS departures have been canceled on Saturday.
As early as 04.30 last night, people were queuing in folding chairs in front of the company’s service desk at Gardermoen. Press manager for SAS in Sweden, Irena Busic, says she has no information about what is causing the queue.
But in an email to Aftenposten, she writes that the storm creates chain reactions that take time to stop.
– Aircraft and crews are in the wrong place. It requires a reshuffling of crew, aircraft and ground crew. This unfortunately creates major problems for both the travelers and us as an airline, she writes.
No “home for Christmas” guarantee
She cannot guarantee that people will get where they are going before Christmas.
– Most flights are fully booked on long weekends, so it is difficult to find empty seats and rebook passengers, she says.
On Friday, SAS considered setting up extra flights after 49 departures were cancelled. Busic does not have an overview of how many extra departures were actually set up.
On Sunday, an extra flight will be set up from Paris to Oslo. Otherwise, she is currently not aware of any plans for additional departures before Christmas.
2023-12-23 12:33:53
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