The failure of the refueling system at Lisbon airport last Wednesday had knock-on effects at 39 airports and left 50,000 thousands passengers stranded.
The hardest hit were Madrid-Barajas, Brussels, Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris-Orly and Barcelona-El Prat after the Lisbon fuel system failed. This may be the responsibility of Grupo Operacional de Combustíveis run by Petrogal - a full inquiry is underway.
AirHelp, a company specialising in the air passenger safety, said that 31 airports were affected for flights that could not depart from Lisbon’s at Humberto Delgado airport
27 flights were destined for European airports, two for destinations in South America, one in North America and one in Africa.
"With regard to arrivals in Lisbon, 23 European flights and one from Africa were involved," AirHelp added, noting that the airports suffering the most disruption were Madrid, Brussels and Schiphol.
Passengers affected by flight cancellations and delays may well be entitled to compensation from their airlines of up to €600 under a European regulation covering cancellations, overcrowding or delay of 3 hours or more.
Bernardo Pinto, head of AirHelp in Portugal and Brazil, said today that the failure of the fuel supply system, on October 10th, "is not one of the exceptions in the European regulation."
"Fuel supply is part of the whole process of air transport, and if the airport authorities or any other supplier are liable under the European regulation, passengers retain the right to obtain compensation from the airlines," said Pinto, adding that it is then up to the airlines to make claims against whoever is found to be responsible for the equipment failure.
AirHelp advises affected passengers to take action and ask for compensation, which can vary between €125 and €600 per passenger depending on the distance of the flight and the number of hours it was delayed.
On Tuesday, the aviation regulator advised passengers to file a complaint with their airline and send a copy to the National Civil Aviation Authority.
ANA reported at 6:30 am on Thursday, May 11, that the supply of aircraft fuel at Lisbon airport was back on stream, having failed at 12:00 the day before.
Comments
Try using airhelp. I have never had to use this service btu it may be worth looking at.