Inconvenienced passengers on a rerouted Ryanair budget flight landed at Cyprus’ Paphos airport around 9:30pm on Tuesday – a day after its original schedule.
But four of the total of 167 passengers, mostly Cypriots, stayed back in Athens where the flight – on route from Thessaloniki to Paphos – was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday evening.
“Fellow passengers said they were not certain whether the four would come back with other airlines, they chose not to board this charter flight,” state television reported from Paphos.
One Cypriot passenger who suffers from a heart condition was transferred to Hospital in Athens after the plane landed and the rest spent the night in an Athens hotel.
An insider at Paphos airport told The Cyprus Daily yesterday: “The Irish carrier had the option to pay for a second night at the hotel or bring them back”.
The insider added: “It was not an easy decision to take because sometimes it costs more to charter a plane than pay for an additional night at a reasonably-priced hotel”.
The 37-year-old Greek national who caused the rerouting reportedly has a history of mental instability.
He was arrested by police in Athens and later escorted to a psychiatric clinic where he was admitted.
Cyprus Weekly