Nightmare on the way to summer vacation: Passengers stuck for two hours on a plane without air conditioning - "Two women fainted"
Passengers on an Air Haifa flight to Larnaca were stuck on board the plane in the heavy August heat: "There were babies, children, and adults there. People were banging on the doors."
An unexpected delay of an Air Haifa flight to Larnaca left passengers stranded for two hours on board the plane with the engines turned off and the air conditioning systems non-operational.
A passenger on the flight told News 12:
"There were babies, children, and elderly people there. People had no air to breathe. Two women fainted, the plane's doors were still closed, and nobody seemed to care."
The incident occurred on Tuesday when a sequence of several Air Haifa flights arrived simultaneously at Larnaca Airport. The airport was not prepared to handle three flights from the company at once, forcing passengers on one of the planes to wait for nearly two hours. As the plane sat on the tarmac, temperatures inside the cabin climbed rapidly.
"We sat in our seats for 20 minutes without knowing what was happening," one passenger recalled. "They didn't tell us anything. After 20 minutes, they turned off the engine, which also shut down the air conditioning and ventilation. People started to become impatient, banging on the doors and shouting at the flight attendants, but they had no answers."
In response, Air Haifa stated:
"We apologize to the passengers for the inconvenience and are investigating the incident. After landing, there was a delay in connecting the plane to the airport's air conditioning system due to unexpected maintenance constraints. As a gesture of apology, each passenger will receive a $75 credit for future Air Haifa flights, valid for two years."
