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‘Plane plunged from the sky like at a fairground attraction’: 14 injured as turbulence hits Madrid flight

Fourteen people were lightly injured when a flight operated by Spanish charter airline Evelop from Mauritius to Madrid hit severe turbulence, the company said Wednesday.

Published: 22 August 2019 09:11 CEST

'Plane plunged from the sky like at a fairground attraction': 14 injured as turbulence hits Madrid flight

Photo: Evelop.com

The Airbus 330 aircraft landed safely at Madrid airport on Tuesday night after suffering a 15-second episode of clear air turbulence which caused the plane to drop 100 metres (328 feet), Evelop said in a statement.

Fourteen people suffered light bruises and were taken to local hospitals for treatment, it added. They were all discharged on the same day.

Three flight attendants were among the injured, an Evelop spokesman said.

One passenger, who gave only her first name, Mar, told news radio Cadena Ser that the plane “plunged like when you are at a fairground attraction.”

“We saw many passengers fly literally over the seats, some hit the ceiling, others the seats beside them,” she added.

The airline said the seat belt warning activated before the plane flew into the turbulence zone.

Clear air turbulence is turbulence that occurs in otherwise calm, clear blue skies, without any visual indication such as clouds.

Evelop, which is based in Spain's Balearic Islands, operates short and long haul flights out of Spain and Portugal on behalf of tour operators.

READ MORE: WATCH: British Airways flight emergency lands in Spain after cabin fills with smoke

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Aarhus Airport to get easier connections with new code-sharing deal

Convenient connections to European hub airports in Amsterdam and Paris will become easier to find from Aarhus Airport from September.

A code-sharing agreement between Scandinavian airline SAS and Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta Air Lines means that flight codes from those airlines – and more efficient connections via Copenhagen – will appear at Aarhus, the Jutland airport said in a press release on Tuesday.

The agreement gives Aarhus Airport passengers access to over 1,000 European destinations through so-called SkyTeam network.

For example, the code-sharing networks cuts journey times from Aarhus (via Copenhagen) to Amsterdam Schiphol to 2 hours 50 minutes, and to Paris CDG to 3 hours and 50 minutes.

“We are becoming more global. With only 30 minutes’ driving time from Aarhus, people in the region can save a huge amount of time flying from Aarhus Airport to an impressive number of Air France, KLM or SkyTeam destinations,” the airport’s director Lotta Sandsgaard said in the press release.

The agreement “has great significance for the international business environment in the Aarhus region and in a tourism perspective for a booming sector by attracting travellers from European and overseas markets,” she added.

The SK flight code, one of the codes which will be used at Aarhus under the agreement, is operated by Air France and KLM from their respective hubs. This means destinations including Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes, Porto, Newcastle, Southampton, Cardiff, Venice and Naples as well as Marrakesh, Tunis and Casablanca in North Africa can be booked.

Destinations including Las Vegas, Denver, Seattle, Orlando, Cincinnati, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit and Salt Lake City and more can also be booked with Air France and KLM to and from Aarhus Airport.

Travellers in Aarhus will also see new connections between SAS and Delta-operated flights to dozens of destinations across the USA and Canada via Delta’s North American network. The deal means they can travel to these destinations with one check-in at Aarhus Airport’s SAS counter.

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