The number of flights cancelled at the Otopeni Airport due to events in the Middle East has reached 36, spokesperson of the National Company of Bucharest Airports (CNAB) Theodor Postelnicu announced on Monday.
"Both departures and arrivals are cancelled, 36 flights to airports in Dubai, Amman, Beirut, Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, and of course Cairo these two flights. However, passengers have understood the situation. As you have seen, the airport is calm. People are at home, safe, or have been accommodated by the airlines in hotels or refunded. We are waiting for things to return to normal so aviation can resume," Theodor Postelnicu said, agerpres reports.
He explained that, depending on the normalisation of conditions at certain airports, passengers may be rerouted.
He also provided details about the flights that were supposed to bring 360 passengers from Egypt to Romania.
"Passengers had practically not yet reached Cairo. TAROM was ready, Romanian authorities were ready, but border formalities in that area and extremely difficult ground transport, complicated by very detailed security procedures, meant that the passengers' arrival in Cairo was heavily delayed and taking off from here and waiting there carried the risk of these flights being cancelled," he explained.
When asked how long it could take for take-off if passengers reached the airport, he mentioned that flight scheduling and finding free time slots are required.
"Be aware that it is a more complicated matter, as airport slots need to be scheduled, meaning some special time intervals, because many airlines already occupy the schedules, especially those that operate regularly in Cairo and the Romanian authorities must find the right moment to fit in the two flights, both for landing and take-off. This involves handling companies, border control, numerous procedures, baggage checks and ensuring everyone's safety," Postelnicu underscored.
The national carrier previously announced that the special flights organised to repatriate over 300 Romanian citizens from Egypt have been rescheduled for the evening of 2 March, due to delays caused by ground transport on the Israel-Egypt route and border formalities.
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