Delta passengers grounded at remote island for 29 hours after 21-year-old plane takes detour

A Delta Air Lines flight diverted to a remote island due to indications of an engine problem, leaving the passengers stuck there for 29 hours, Business Insider reported. Flight 127 left Madrid around 1 pm on Sunday for New York - a trip that should have lasted seven hours. But it did not go as planned. The plane diverted to a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after four hours into the journey, Flightradar24 data shows. An hour after turning around over the ocean, it landed at Lajes Airport on the Portuguese island of Terceira. It is part of the Azores archipelago, that is over 1,600 kilometres away from the mainland. The airport caters to only a few airlines and is also used by military aircraft. This meant that the passengers of the Delta flight could not be sent off from the island anytime soon. Also Read: 'Don't look out': Bloody scene unfolds at Milan airport after a man reportedly throws himself into plane engine

Delta had to send another plane to the island from New York for the passengers. According to flight-tracking data, the second plane took off from JFK airport five hours after Flight 127 landed in the Azores. It reached Terceira at 2 am and left at 9 pm on Monday. Flight 9927 landed in New York at 10:22 pm ET, nearly 31 hours after the scheduled landing of the first flight. The Airbus A330, the 21-year-old plane which originally took the passengers to the island, is still parked at the Azores airport. A Delta spokesperson said that the pilots followed protocol and took the plane to the nearest airport after sensing that something could be wrong with the plane. "We sincerely apologise to our customers for their experience and the delay in their travels," the Delta spokesperson said. Also Read: Bomb threat? RIP text triggers panic, forces American Airlines plane to turn around

'Be grateful your plane didn't crash in the sea', airport staff member tells passenger

In 2023, a similar incident happened with Delta when a flight was diverted to the Lajes Airport. The flight from Ghana suffered a "mechanical issue with a backup oxygen system", after which it was turned towards the nearest airport. In that case, passengers spend 12 hours on the island. They complained of a lack of communication from the airline or airport officials. One of the passengers wrote a public complaint on Facebook, stating that they were told to drink water from bathroom faucets, and Delta abandoned them. The crew was taken to a hotel while the passengers were left at the airport in an enclosed space. They were told they would be given food, but only got ham sandwiches, juice boxes, and crackers after "begging and pleading." A passenger told Business Insider that the staff told them not to "start a revolution" and that they should "be grateful for a second chance at life." Kiaundra Eggleston, a passenger, posted a video of a female staff member at the airport and wrote, "This female rep told us we should be grateful that they allowed us to be here and our plane didn't crash in the sea."