In scenes reminiscent of the recent movie, Airlift, passengers stranded at Brussels airport are being evacuated through a circuitous route as the airport was locked down after Tuesday's blasts. Only this time, a private airline has pulled out the stops to get its guests safely home. After spending some nervewracking moments at the airport - bombs tore through Zaventem airport minutes after the Mumbai- Brussels Jet flight landed there - passengers braved bone-chilling temperatures and rains before they were put in 15 buses and sent to Amsterdam, some 210 km away.
Jet announced on Thursday that it was operating special flights from Amsterdam to Delhi and Mumbai and to Toronto for its guests headed towards the Americas. At the last minute, the Mumbai-bound flight, which was to depart Amsterdam at 1400 hours on Thursday developed a snag and had to return to base. Jet said that it would accommodate the Mumbai-bound passengers in its Amsterdam-Delhi flight and then fly them home. "With the airport shut, we operated empty ferry flights to Amsterdam from Brussels," an airline official said.
Several passengers took a little time out to speak to Mirror despite the harrowing time they had been going through after the blasts in the EU capital. Bangalore-based Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar, who was returning home after attending a medical conference in Boston, said that people started running the moment the blasts ripped through the airport. "There was immediate chaos all around," he said, adding that he ran into Delhi resident Sukhvir Lota and then two other Indians, Afshaa R and Nandita V, moments after the blast. The four kept running for over 10 minutes across the terminal building before they reached the tarmac and founf some 1,000+ fliers gathered there. In another part of the airport, Koshy Jacob, a retired IAF wing commander had just landed at Brussels from Newark when the blasts ripped across the departure terminal.
26/03/16 Mumbai Mirror
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Jet announced on Thursday that it was operating special flights from Amsterdam to Delhi and Mumbai and to Toronto for its guests headed towards the Americas. At the last minute, the Mumbai-bound flight, which was to depart Amsterdam at 1400 hours on Thursday developed a snag and had to return to base. Jet said that it would accommodate the Mumbai-bound passengers in its Amsterdam-Delhi flight and then fly them home. "With the airport shut, we operated empty ferry flights to Amsterdam from Brussels," an airline official said.
Several passengers took a little time out to speak to Mirror despite the harrowing time they had been going through after the blasts in the EU capital. Bangalore-based Dr Bhaskar Rajkumar, who was returning home after attending a medical conference in Boston, said that people started running the moment the blasts ripped through the airport. "There was immediate chaos all around," he said, adding that he ran into Delhi resident Sukhvir Lota and then two other Indians, Afshaa R and Nandita V, moments after the blast. The four kept running for over 10 minutes across the terminal building before they reached the tarmac and founf some 1,000+ fliers gathered there. In another part of the airport, Koshy Jacob, a retired IAF wing commander had just landed at Brussels from Newark when the blasts ripped across the departure terminal.
26/03/16 Mumbai Mirror
