A TUI plane en route from the Dominican Republic to Amsterdam made a precautionary landing in Curaçao last night. The Boeing 787’s landing went without problems, but about a hundred passengers said they would be left to their own devices at Willemstad Airport.
“We’ve been sitting here for about six hours. No food, no drink, no TUI,” one passenger, Tom Decapotter, told NOS.
Petra Cook of TUI Nederland reported that of the 300 passengers on board, about two hundred were housed. “It’s very crowded in Curaçao. It’s Easter. We’ve been calling like crazy, but almost all hotels are full. We spent some time working in an empty nursing home. Anyway, it’s true that there are still about 100 homeless people.” That’s annoying enough, because I realize the airport is now closed.”
Cockpit windshield
According to passenger Decabot, the plane departed from Punta Cana airport in the Dominican Republic as planned. Things went wrong after stopping in Bonaire. “The pilot said that a windshield in the cockpit had blown and he had to make an emergency landing. That’s how we ended up in Curaçao,” he says.
TUI Netherlands has a slightly different lecture. “My understanding is that the captain noticed a crack in the window in the cockpit after stopping in Bonaire. With a crack in the window over the ocean, you’d rather not. So, just to be safe, he made a precautionary landing in Curaçao.”
Land without panic
Decapotter says the landing went smoothly and without panic. However, it took a long time before the passengers were allowed to leave the plane. “During that time, we got something to eat and drink. Then it took another two hours before we got through customs,” he says.
Now we will have to wait and see when a group of about a hundred remaining passengers will be accommodated and when an alternative flight to Amsterdam will be arranged. “We can’t reach everyone because some of those hundreds of people are behind customs, but we’ve already sent an updated text three times,” TUI spokeswoman Cook said. Decabooter says they’ll be left to their own devices, but according to TUI, that’s not the case.
