Russian Tourists Left Stranded as Majority of Boeing 777 Fleet Goes Out of Service

Russian holidaymakers in Turkey were left stranded in Antalya after two-thirds of an airline’s Boeing 777-200ER aircraft experienced breakdowns.

According to the Moscow Times, the passengers of Russian carrier Red Wings Airlines, were left stuck in the Turkish tourist city for two days.

The tourists, which included families with young children, were due to fly to Yekaterinburg Koltsovo Airport (SVX) but the flight kept being rescheduled.

The Boeing 777 and 410 passengers were due to depart Antalya at 9:30 pm local time but after waiting eight hours the tourists were sent back to a hotel.

The following day, the flight was rescheduled to take off in the morning but again this did not happen, leaving passengers extremely frustrated.

“Two Boeing 777 aircraft out of the three available in the airline’s fleet were simultaneously out of service due to technical reasons,” Red Wings Airlines said in a statement.

A second Red Wings flight from Antalya to Zhukovsky was also delayed by 11 hours due to an engine cooling system malfunction.

In the Red Wings Airline statement, it confirmed that it had chartered an aircraft from Ikar which would take delayed passengers from Yekaterinburg to Antalya and then bring back the stranded passengers.

It was reported that one of the airline’s Boeing 777 aircraft was being repaired at Moscow’s Zhukovsky airport.

Under Western sanctions Russia has found it increasingly difficult to fix American and European made planes as the United States and EU restrict the movement of aircraft parts.