If this article doesn't scream the need for military transport aircraft, nothing will. Yet again we have to expect our old rulers will bail us out.
“Twenty-four hours later we arrived in Lima and were greeted by British soldiers. It was surreal.
“The airport was completely closed, so we were taking off from the military airbase in Lima.
“The airport was completely closed, so we were taking off from the military airbase in Lima.
Although commercial flights had all but ground to a halt, some airlines were offering chartered flights.
At one stage, Irish and British embassy staff were offering a flight out through a private Colombian company, Avianca.
Irish citizens were advised via email that the company was “considering” arranging a chartered plane from Lima to London that weekend, March 21/22.
They also said they would also put in place a connecting flight from Cusco to Lima to connect with this London flight.
However, the price was “likely” to be $3,500 one way economy class and $7,500 business class - a price people were told reflected “what is involved in negotiating permissions from the authorities”.
While some like Mr Cotter were prepared to pay for economy seats, others simply couldn’t afford the prices and everyone eventually resigned themselves to having to remain for longer in their accommodation.
At one stage, Irish and British embassy staff were offering a flight out through a private Colombian company, Avianca.
Irish citizens were advised via email that the company was “considering” arranging a chartered plane from Lima to London that weekend, March 21/22.
They also said they would also put in place a connecting flight from Cusco to Lima to connect with this London flight.
However, the price was “likely” to be $3,500 one way economy class and $7,500 business class - a price people were told reflected “what is involved in negotiating permissions from the authorities”.
While some like Mr Cotter were prepared to pay for economy seats, others simply couldn’t afford the prices and everyone eventually resigned themselves to having to remain for longer in their accommodation.
So, in the days before flights to and from Ireland were banned on March 16 all the diplomatic staff were in the office on the phones calling people directly, and warning them about possible problems with flights if they wanted to leave.
“But we had noticed that although they had banned other people's flights, some flights still continued to go out and there was a grace period.
“That was kind of our impetus to then start talking to the airlines directly.”
Thanks to a call she had made to her opposite number in Dublin at the start of the crisis, she found out about a flight the Turkish government were sending to Dublin.
As well as getting permission to take Irish citizens out of Turkey, she also had to quickly arrange for the plane to be allowed land in Dublin with passengers on board. “Turkish Airlines had permission to land an empty airplane into Dublin but not an aircraft with people on board,” she recalled.
“We were phoning up at midnight to Department of Justice and Department of Transport officials and Dublin Airport over the weekend.
“We wanted to give them a heads up there would be a request coming in.”
As well as getting Irish citizens out, the flight was helpful for other reasons too. She contacted other embassies and offered them space on the plane - a favour they would later return.
“Because we knew that a flight was happening, we contacted other EU embassies and the UK here to say we can get people into Ireland, would that be useful for you?” she said.
In total, about 30 were on board, from Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, the UK and America.
“That was kind of our impetus to then start talking to the airlines directly.”
Thanks to a call she had made to her opposite number in Dublin at the start of the crisis, she found out about a flight the Turkish government were sending to Dublin.
As well as getting permission to take Irish citizens out of Turkey, she also had to quickly arrange for the plane to be allowed land in Dublin with passengers on board. “Turkish Airlines had permission to land an empty airplane into Dublin but not an aircraft with people on board,” she recalled.
“We were phoning up at midnight to Department of Justice and Department of Transport officials and Dublin Airport over the weekend.
“We wanted to give them a heads up there would be a request coming in.”
As well as getting Irish citizens out, the flight was helpful for other reasons too. She contacted other embassies and offered them space on the plane - a favour they would later return.
“Because we knew that a flight was happening, we contacted other EU embassies and the UK here to say we can get people into Ireland, would that be useful for you?” she said.
In total, about 30 were on board, from Ireland, Sweden, Turkey, Portugal, the UK and America.
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