Canceled flights between Bucharest and Lisbon leave hundreds of tourists at airports

Tens of Romanians were stranded on the Lisbon airport since the evening of September 6 after a TAP Portugal flight due for Bucharest was canceled, News.ro reported. At the same time, over 250 people that were due to leave during the morning of August 7 from Bucharest to Lisbon also had their TAP Portugal flight canceled. The Foreign Affairs Ministry (MAE) said on September 7 it had the case under its attention and that the Romanian tourists were expected to depart from Lisbon using “alternative air routes.” At the same time, a team from the Romanian Embassy in Lisbon went to the airport during the night of September 6 to September 7 to talk to the representatives of the airline and with the travelers. The tourists were supposed to leave for Bucharest on August 6, at around 24:00. The tourists were told the flight would be postponed and later found it was canceled. They did not receive an explanation regarding the reason for the cancelation. MAE said 16 of the 175 passengers in Lisbon already left for Bucharest, while the remaining ones will return with a special flight, scheduled for September 7, at 15:00, Romania’s time. The Bucharest passengers whose Lisbon flight was canceled were being assisted by the airline and the airport personnel, according to a press release of the Bucharest Airports Company. This is not the first Lisbon – Bucharest flight canceled. At the end of August, over 100 Romanian tourists were blocked for two days in Lisbon because TAP Portugal had canceled the flights that were to take them back to the country. After the incidents, Prime Minister Mihai Tudose said he would recall the Romanian consul to Lisbon over how the incident was handled. TAP Portugal reintroduced direct flights from Bucharest to Lisbon at the beginning of this July, after discontinuing the route in January 2015. editor@romania-insider.com