The blue and white A320 with registration N276GX landed in Schiphol on June 28. The following week, the plane flew three round trips for TUI to Turkey, Greece and Spain. Since then (from 3 July) the Airbus has been grounded in Schiphol. The other rented A320 from GlobalX, the all-blue N279GX that arrived on July 1, allowed only one round trip.
A TUI spokeswoman informed Luchtvaartnieuws at the time that there were problems with the paperwork. “There are some wrinkles that need to be ironed out through paperwork to allow European flights to operate. There is nothing technically wrong with the hardware.” She still had high hopes that the issue would be resolved quickly, but that didn’t work out.
Due to the disappearance of the two American A320s, TUI flying is very narrow in capacity and the designated aircraft must be chartered elsewhere. For example, an Icelandic Boeing 757 has been operating for TUI since last weekend. In recent weeks, several Airbus A330s, A340s and A320s that were leased elsewhere have also been temporarily moved to the tour operator.
TUI also leased two Boeing 737s from Canada’s Sunwing for this summer: They fly normally, from Rotterdam, and are recognizable by their orange tails, ailerons and hoods.
In pictures: The arrival of the first GlobalX A320 in Schiphol at the end of June:
