Nightmare on Arkia flight: plane landed in another country, hundreds of passengers stranded

Another drama on an Arkia flight: the flight scheduled to depart last Sunday from Podgorica, Montenegro, to Tel Aviv was delayed for many hours and eventually departed from a completely different airport.

The flight was set to leave at 20:00, but the aircraft arriving from Tel Aviv was denied landing permission in Podgorica and was diverted to Tirana. This forced exhausted passengers to undertake an arduous journey from Montenegro to Albania.

Arkia explained that the plane took off as scheduled, but while in the air, they received an update regarding an "operational issue concerning the specific aircraft at the destination airport," making landing in Podgorica impossible.

The unexpected change led to a tedious and unusual transfer operation. Passengers who were supposed to land in Podgorica were transported by bus from Tirana, while those waiting in Montenegro were also transferred to Albania to board the plane. Boarding did not begin until around 05:00 in the morning.

"No one from Arkia contacted us, they didn't take care of updates, food, or drink," claimed one of the passengers in a conversation with Ynet. According to him, even the company representative on-site could not provide answers.

Arkia stated: "Following the change of the landing destination and the need to transport passengers, a delay also occurred on the return flight to Tel Aviv. Passengers were updated and assisted by the local Arkia representative, and updates were sent to the contact details provided to the company."

As a reminder, Arkia has faced heavy criticism recently due to a series of flight disruptions. About three weeks ago, a flight to Vilnius was forced to turn back shortly after takeoff due to a bird strike. A day later, a flight to Ramon Airport (Eilat) turned around due to missile launches from Iran, and two weeks ago, a flight to Phuket was diverted to Bangkok due to adverse weather conditions.