Israeli woman waits for Blue Bird plane in Rhodes.
Photo: Eyal Sterk
Israelis stuck in Greece on way back from Passover vacation
About 160 stuck in Rhodes and Crete after Greek airline Blue Bird plane does not arrive; 'We have already given up on the Mimouna', Israeli passengers says.
About 160 Israelis found themselves stuck at the Rhodes International Airport in Greece on Saturday.
Many Israelis returning from Passover vacations in Greece became frustrated on Saturday after waiting since the early morning for their plane, belonging to the Greek airline Blue Bird, to arrive and take them home.
Israelis wait for flight in Rhodes. (Photo: Eyal Sterk)
The plane was scheduled to pick up additional Israeli passengers for Crete, and they too were forced to wait for the plane, which has yet to arrive at either airport.
The passengers have been waiting for the Blue Bird Boeing 737 to arrive from 9 am – the time they arrived at the airport to check-in to their flight.
Israelis wait for Blue Bird flight in Rhodes. (Photo: Eyal Sterk)
The passengers say that while waiting for hours without access to their suitcases they were given no answers as to when the plane would arrive by the Blue Bird airline.
"What bothers us the most is that we have no representative of the company or of the airport who is trying to help us," said Orna Admoni, one of the Israeli passengers awaiting her flight home in Rhodes.
"In the beginning they said there would be a one hour delay because of a technical issue. Later they said that the plane that was supposed to arrive from Crete got stuck on the way and a new plane will arrive. But even now there is no forecast for when the flight will leave," said Admoni.
The Sasson family, who are also waiting for the flight in Rhodes, were scheduled to arrive back in Israel in time for their annual Mimouna celebration to mark the end of Passover with their extended family. Now, the celebrations will have to wait for next year.
"What we want most is to get back to Israel," said Yarden, a member of the family. "We have already given up on the Mimouna and we told everybody that we won't be coming because we got stuck in Rhodes."
Eyal Sterk, also waiting in Rhodes, said: "The airline representatives claim there is no plane and in the beginning they even said the plane was out of order. It is unclear how we are proceeding forward and we are all frustrated."
At around 5 pm, the passengers had hopes that the plane would finally arrives but the plane was still nowhere to be seen.
The tired passengers have begun preparing for a long night ahead, while some decided to turn to the Foreign Ministry's situation room. "There are young babies here that cannot eat because their food is inside the suitcases that were already handed over to be stored in the plane. It's like we are imprisoned in the terminal," said Admoni.
The Blue Bird airline has yet to give their response to the situation, however; the travel agency the Israeli passengers booked the flight with, Kavei Hufsha, said that the flight from Rhodes was already underway and that it had canceled the flight to Israel from Crete to Israel."
"The flight from Rhodes is supposed to arrive in Israel in the coming hours," Kavei Hufsha said on Saturday evening. "The flight from Crete to Israel was canceled, passengers were given a hotel room and are expected to land tomorrow morning in Israel. All the passengers have been treated and we are making sure to get them to Israel as soon as possible."
