At Munich Airport, nerves were on edge last Thursday: Because a plane was extremely delayed, even the police had to ensure peace at the counter.
The new holiday airline Marabu has only been available since April of this year – and the start was more than bumpy. The airline reached its (negative) peak so far last Thursday (25 May) in Munich: Actually, passengers on a flight to Corfu were supposed to start their journey at 5:55 a.m. Instead, passengers had to wait for hours at Gate A23. The reason: The airline could not provide the required aircraft in time.
Marabu flight delayed by 18 hours – holidaymakers in a rage
Apparently, after 15 hours of waiting, the mood at the gate was so bubbling that the federal police had to move in with three or four men to de-escalate the situation, as the Bild newspaper reported. According to one passenger, nerves were on edge, and there had been loud discussions. After about 18 hours, a plane of the Lithuanian charter airline Kasjet was finally available and the majority of the passengers were finally able to fly to Corfu. However, not everyone: the machine that was ultimately available was too small for all travelers. Around 40 passengers therefore had to be rebooked on an alternative flight – but it took off in Graz. As one passenger reported, according to Bild.de, the holidaymakers were to be taken by taxi and bus to the airport, which is 380 kilometres away, including families with children: "They then broke off the journey".
+The young airline Marabu is still struggling with many problems. (Symbolic image)
© Johann Medvey/Imago
According to an airline spokesman, an "aircraft type was used that has pure business class seating and therefore has fewer seats than the originally planned model." The 40 passengers, who were unable to fly due to limited capacity, were booked on an alternative flight in Graz and reached their destination from there. According to an affected couple, however, there was a delay of more than 24 hours.
Massive delays do not stop
But the problems at Marabu don't stop there: According to the industry portal Aerotelegraph.com, massive delays are said to have occurred again on Friday. A flight from Munich to Faro had to be postponed by more than a day, to Saturday evening. A plane from Malaga, on the other hand, arrived eight hours late on Friday evening. And even from Hamburg, a plane to Las Palmas could only take off with a four-and-a-half-hour delay. For this reason, the return flight arrived too late and therefore had to switch to Hanover.
Why are there so many delays at Marabu?
The airline Marabu was founded at the end of 2022 by the financial investor Attestor – which also acquired Condor – to take over selected routes from Condor. As Aerotelegraph reports from aviation circles, the latter will not be able to meet the additional demand after the end of the Corona restrictions. In addition, additional aircraft would also require additional personnel who could not be trained in time – especially since the airline is currently renewing its long-haul fleet. Therefore, a new airline was needed that would serve classic holiday destinations.
Ideal for a getaway: Ten European cities you should have seen
Ideal for a getaway: Ten European cities you should have seen
In February, Marabu boss Paul Schwaiger announced in an interview with the specialist publisher FVW that they would like to start with six machines from Munich and Hamburg in summer and four in winter. Most of these should be made available through wet lease providers. Marabu itself only had its own Airbus A320 Neo at the start in April – and it failed on the seventh day due to a technical defect. That's why the large number of flights have so far been operated via replacement capacities from Sundair, Chair Air, Plus Ultra or Fly 2 Sky.
"The involvement of so-called wet-lease partners, i.e. the leasing of aircraft from partner airlines, is a standard market approach of all airlines when additional aircraft have to be used at short notice," said a Marabu spokesman, according to RTL. Apparently, however, this system is not yet running so smoothly with the new airline – aircraft are not provided in time, resulting in the enormous delays.
Category list image: © Johann Medvey/Imago