Hundreds of passengers were trapped in their aircraft at Eindhoven Airport on Saturday afternoon. They cannot disembark because there is a technical malfunction in the processing of their luggage. “There is a lot of unrest among the people on the plane,” someone said by telephone from a stranded device.
The spokesperson for Eindhoven Airport confirms that there is a malfunction in the baggage handling system. The defect affects both passengers who want to depart and travelers who arrive. According to the spokesperson, there would be five flights. Passengers on the runway report 12 aircraft parked. It is not clear, however, whether all of these have stranded passengers on board.
unrest
Among the passengers trapped in their aircraft is Ekrem Toprak from Den Bosch. He landed on the plane around 2:30 pm. “We are coming from Istanbul and we are on our way home. But we have been waiting for almost an hour and a half now. We cannot get off the plane. According to the onboard staff, it is too dangerous to walk to the terminal now. So we just wait and see There is a lot of unrest among the passengers.”
The travelers on his flight are supplied with water. It remains to be seen what will come next. According to Ekrem, there are about six to seven planes in total waiting. “To my left I count three other aircraft. To our right there are about three to four parked.”
A little later, around a quarter past three, Ekrem and his fellow passengers still manage to disembark. “I see that the planes are being handled one by one. But I hardly see any ground personnel. The few employees who are there are very young and I don’t think they are that experienced,” says Ekrem. He has little luggage so can quickly go home after passport control. In his own words, Ekrem travels by plane at least twice a month for business purposes. “Seeing what’s happening now makes me a little scared about the future.”
Luggage
That is different for many fellow passengers. They have to wait patiently for their suitcase to roll off the conveyor belt at the arrival terminal. According to the spokesman for the airport, the malfunction has not yet been resolved. “We’re working on it,” is the reply.
Parking garage
In the parking garage of the airport it is also a chaos. Cars are double parked, drivers drive in circles looking for a place to stop. People walk on the parking decks, reports a reporter from Omroep Brabant.
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