Windjet Shuts Down, Strands Hundreds of Passengers

Windjet Airbus A320 (photo: Wikipedia)

Italian budget airline Windjet has shut down operations today and stranded hundreds of flyers…mostly at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, according to reports.

The airline ceased operations at midnight Sunday, putting passengers in an obvious bind as they scrambled to make other flight arrangements.

‘About 200 Tel Aviv-bound passengers who spent the night at the airport after their flight was cancelled Saturday evening were finally able to depart Sunday afternoon for an extra 50 euros ($60) thanks to a special charter flight by Mistral Air, which operates flights for the Italian postal service.’

Others carriers such as including Alitalia, Meridiana and Blu Panorama are stepping in with extra flights to accommodate as many Windjet flyers as possible.

‘Since Friday, Wind Jet flights have suffered cancellations and delays as the company has struggled to stay aloft after takeover talks with Italian flag-carrier Alitalia broke down.

Alitalia walked out of the negotiations begun several months ago after Windjet boss Stefano Rantuccio accused it of trying to impose unfavourable conditions on his company.’

Alitalia charged that Wind Jet clearly had no intention of respecting provisional agreements aimed at saving the budget operator.

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