On Monday morning, a plane specially chartered by the travel company Ving landed in Copenhagen. On board were 315 Nordic travelers, 150 of whom were Swedes.
This means that we have basically brought home all of our guests in Southeast Asia, says Claes Pellvik, head of communications at Ving.
This includes people who were stranded in Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Maldives when their trips home were canceled due to the flight ban in the Middle East.
140 Swedes at home
Ving has a small number of passengers remaining in the Middle East: seven people in Dubai and five in Doha. There is also a “small number” in Mauritius waiting to be accommodated on flights that stop over in Dubai.
The airport in Dubai is operating better and better. We expect to get the last people in Dubai home tomorrow, if everything goes as planned, says Claes Pellvik.
Good news is also coming from the airport in Doha, according to Pellvik.
We are working intensively to find seats on one of the flights that depart directly from there.
Apollo has managed to bring home 140 Swedes from the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and Monday and now has none left in the country. Around 25 people who were supposed to stop in the Middle East remain at other destinations.
We can't say for sure yet, but we have solutions for the majority of them in the coming days, says Martina Krantz at Apollo.
“Riding in shuttle service”
Tui has also started flying its European travelers home. Over the weekend they were able to operate two flights a day and two more are planned for Monday. In total, around 70 Swedes have been brought home, of whom 30 were from the United Arab Emirates.
The plane, which is Tui's own, makes a stopover in Crete to refuel because the model cannot fly the entire distance on one tank.
We use shuttle services when possible, when it is safe and there are corridors in the airspace, says Dian Valencia, communications manager at Tui.
The company has around 200 Swedes remaining at various destinations affected by canceled flights.
It's a step forward that we have now begun work so that we can take customers home ourselves, says Dian Valencia.
Corrected version: In a previously broadcast version, the wrong name was used for Apollo, Tui and Ving.
