If losing the EUROS final 2-1 to Spain in Berlin on Sunday night wasn’t bad enough, things quickly went from bad to worse for a plane-load of England soccer fans who no doubt wanted to get out of the German capital as fast as possible on Monday morning.
The disappointed fans were making their way home to Manchester on a special flight organised by German low-cost carrier Eurowings just to get England fans to and from Berlin to watch the UEFA European Football Championship final – an operation that some media outlets had dubbed the ‘Berlin Airlift’.
The Airbus A319 was due to depart Berlin Brandenburg Airport at 8 am on Monday and was no doubt full of bleary-eyed fans who had seen England come so close to being European champions – a feat that the team have ever yet to accomplish.
The flight departed just a few minutes late, but during the initial climb to cruising altitude the crew detected some sort of strange odour onboard and immediately made preparations to return to Berlin.
Eurowings flight EW8470 landed back in Berlin without incident, although the plane was met by a fleet of fire vehicles as a precaution, before the fans were taken back to the terminal to await news of when they might be able to get back home.
Thankfully, Eurowings was able to get hold of a replacement aircraft, although the fans had to wait around and console themselves for six more hours before they were able to return home to Manchester.
Despite the safe landing, some fans were less than impressed with how the airline dealt with the incident and complained that flight attendants ordered passengers not to take photos or videos in order to avoid ‘bad press’.
Interestingly, flight attendants on a Lufthansa flight which hit severe turbulence while flying over Tennessee in March 2023 ordered passengers to delete photos and videos of the incident – the reason they cited was German privacy laws that require members of the public to give their consent to being recorded or photographed.
In a statement posted to X, a spokesperson for Eurowings said: “Flight EW8470 made an unscheduled return to Berlin this morning due to an undefined smell in the cabin. The aircraft was subsequently inspected without any findings.”
