TUI fly Belgium uses a smaller Boeing 767, meaning an “extended holiday” for 39 passengers in Cuba

On Wednesday, 39 Belgian tourists were forced to extend their holiday in Cuba. Originally they were scheduled to fly back to Belgium on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner (OO-JDL) which had a technical problem. Therefore, TUI fly Belgium chartered a slightly smaller Air Italy Boeing 767-300 (I-AIGG) to operate flight TB306.

The airline provided hotel accommodation, but some passengers were complaining about the long wait to head back to Brussels: “30 hours later we haven’t heard anything from TUI fly“, according to a friend of one of the passengers in newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. They felt left in the dark.

TUI fly Belgium confirmed to Aviation24.be that a big group of 266 passengers will land in Brussels today (17 August) around noon on board the Air Italy B767 (the plane landed indeed at 11:47 after picking up other passengers at Montego Bay). Friday afternoon (17 August), the rest of the passengers (39) will be bussed from Varadero to Havana and arrive in Brussels on Saturday at 17:50, flying Havana – Madrid – Brussels with Air Europa (flights UX52 – Airbus A330-300 reg. EC-MHL – and UX1173 – Embraer E190 reg. EC-KYO). The latter will receive the EU261 compensation of 600 euros.