Celebrated and qualified by the governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella ; As “a milestone in the connectivity of two great tourist destinations” , the inaugural flight of the British Low Cost flybondi between Ushuaia-El Calafate-Ushuaia , started with serious problems. Whether due to inexperience, lack of practice or investment in the training of its pilots by the company.
We celebrate a new milestone in the connectivity of two great tourist destinations: the inaugural flight of the El Calafate-Ushuaia route operated by @flybondioficial . https://t.co/oldaefeVbx
The concrete thing is that the debut flight FO5544 launched this Saturday, August 3, took off from Ushuaia in the morning hours, and an hour later it landed in El Calafate where it was received by provincial and municipal Tourism authorities, who highlighted the new commitment of the Low Cost.
On the other hand, flight FO5545 that left from El Calafate to Ushuaia, had to return to origin after two frustrated landing attempts at the “Malvinas Argentinas” airport in the Fuegian capital; Therefore, several passengers decided to get off at Calafate and not continue to Ushuaia.
According to the plan drawn up by its pilots, flight FO5545 departed from El Calafate normally on time, but on the approach to Ushuaia the problems began. The pilots made two erroneous or failed landing attempts; after which they had to abort the operation, take flight and finally return to their destination.
Camila, one of the passengers who was traveling with her family, told Ahora Calafate that the crew did not clarify the specific reasons for deciding to return to El Calafate. “Until now we don't know if it's because of their lack of experience or because of the climate,” he explained.
The aircraft landed at 1:08 p.m. at the Calafate Airport “Cte. Armando Tola”, from which they had left almost two and a half hours before. According to Ahora Calafate , sources consulted said that in Ushuaia the weather conditions were unfavorable, that there was a crosswind and low visibility.
Although it is worth saying that under those same weather conditions and while Flybondi was doing pirouettes with its passengers; Aerolíneas Argentinas operated without any problems throughout the day. Not only yesterday, but at all times and climatic circumstances that the capital of Fuegian presents, both in winter, with ice and snow, or in summer with strong winds.
After refueling in El Calafate. The commander of the Flybondi flight reported that he was going to return to the Ushuaia airport, but that landing was not guaranteed. It was then that several passengers chose to get off the plane, including Camila with her family.
Finally, at 2:07 p.m., flight FO 5545 took off for the second time that day from El Calafate, arriving an hour later in the Fuegian capital.
What is striking is that the Fuegian governor, once a defender of the flag airline, has changed his mind and now came out to celebrate the operation of a company with British capital, which in its short airline life in Argentina has brought with it countless of accidents and incidents on most of the routes and airports it operates.
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