News December, 27th 2009 by Simon Schönbeck

Lightning forces emergency evacuation in Malaga

Passengers on a Gatwick to Gibraltar flight friday found themselves sliding down the emergency shutes of their aircraft after landing safely at Málaga, where they had been diverted by bad weather on the Rock. The plane was apparently struck by lightning and, according to AENA, the airport managing company, the measure was taken as a precaution by the captain. The lightning struck after the plane had already come to a standstill, and there were no injuries. The passengers found themselves safe, shoeless and a little shocked in the terminal. One report said that the smell of smoke had set off the alarm in the aircraft.This incident comes amidst extreme bad weather.

But EasyJet is not the only company affected: both Monarch and British Airways have also reported several incidents due to the weather, including plenty of flights diverted to Málaga. BA issued a statement on Wednesday that read: “Flights on December 20 and 22 were diverted to Malaga and customers were taken to Malaga by coach to join their flight and travel to Heathrow late that evening. On the 21st, Malaga suffered a high level of disruption due to the diversion of Iberia flights from Madrid due to snow in the capital. We therefore decided not to route our Gibraltar flight to Malaga because of the level congestion in the airport and the pressure on the ground handling services there. We accommodated our customers overnight in Gibraltar and they travelled by coach to depart Malaga to Heathrow the following morning. The weather forecast today continues to be for strong winds and rain. We will be evaluating the weather throughout the day, but there is a high risk that our flight today will again have to operate to Malaga.”

Local weather conditions will also be impacting on flights for the rest of the week. The authorities at Málaga, Gibraltar, Jerez and Sevilla advise that you check with your airline before travelling to the airport.