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40-hour flightmare for passengers stuck 2,300 miles from their destination after a midair emergency
Virgin Atlantic passengers had to spend a night in an airport lounge in Turkey when their flight to India was diverted due to a medical emergency.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
- A Virgin Atlantic flight diverted halfway through its journey from London to Mumbai.
- The Airbus A350 landed at an airport in Turkey and didn't take off for another 40 hours.
- Passengers spent the first night in the departure lounge before hotels could be arranged.
Airline passengers have been delayed nearly two days after a medical emergency forced an unexpected stopover.
Virgin Atlantic Flight 358 took off from London Heathrow Airport at midday Wednesday and was scheduled to land in Mumbai around nine hours later.
However, data from Flightradar24 shows the Airbus A350 turned around over Turkey four hours into the journey.
It diverted to Diyarbakır Airport, which is also used as a military base and doesn't usually accommodate large, wide-body planes like the A350.
The airport is around 2,300 miles as the crow flies from Mumbai and 2,100 miles from London.
An airline spokesperson told Business Insider that one of the passengers was severely unwell and was helped by local medical teams after leaving the plane.
The A350 also required technical inspections, which appear to have exacerbated the delay.
Some passengers took to X to complain about the ordeal, sharing a video of the disgruntled crowd.
One user said that 12 hours after landing, passengers were yet to receive "proper food or accommodation."
In an X post, the airline said customers had to stay in the departure lounge overnight because it was outside the airport's operating hours — while refreshments, including water, were provided.
There were also difficulties with immigration requirements before airport authorities "made an exception to allow passengers to leave the airport temporarily," another post from the airline said.
"The majority of our customers were provided with overnight hotel accommodation ahead of their onward journey today," the Virgin Atlantic spokesperson told BI Friday. "We'd like to sincerely apologize for the delay and any inconvenience caused."
They added that, after receiving the necessary technical approvals, the flight was set to continue at noon local time on Friday — almost 41 hours after landing in Diyarbakır.
The Airbus A350 is scheduled to land in Mumbai at 8:30 p.m. local time Friday.
