Eurowings flight EW981 operated by SmartWings left Hurghada for Cologne at 12:10 UTC with a delay of 90 minutes. The Boeing 737-800 with registration OK-TSU in hybrid Smartwings/Eurowings livery declared an emergency and squawked 7700 over the Mediterranean Sea. It diverted to Heraklion on the Greek island of Crete, where it landed at 14:20 UTC.
After two hours on the ground, the aircraft took off again at 16:20 UTC en route to… Zagreb. There was no emergency squawk 7700 before the landing, and it seems that this additional stopover was programmed during the time on the ground in Crete. For what reason? The crew had probably reached the limit of their duty time because of the first diversion and would not have been allowed to fly further than Zagreb, where another crew would take over.
After being on the ground for another two hours between 18:40 and 20:40 in Zagreb, missing a re-scheduled departure time of 20:10, the Boeing 737-800 eventually took off for the last leg of its journey to Cologne at 20:54, with an estimated arrival time of 22:18 UTC (00:18 next day, local time). It will have been a long trip for the passengers.
Aviation24.be has been reaching out to Eurowings for an explanation, without a reply at the time of writing.
This post was published on 13 April 2025 22:38
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