Spanish Airline, Air Nostrum, faced strong criticism when they decided to cancel a scheduled passenger flight from Vigo to Madrid in order to facilitate the transportation of the Spanish football club Sevilla FC.
This contentious choice by the Spanish airline resulted in 80 passengers having to endure a bus journey covering the 600 km (372 miles) to Madrid, which extended their travel time by approximately four hours, compared to the originally planned one-hour flight.
This incident unfolded on the evening of November 4th, when Air Nostrum’s flight IB8869, initially scheduled for the Vigo (VGO) to Madrid (MAD) route, was abruptly canceled. Instead, the aircraft was repurposed for a charter flight to Seville (SVQ).
The airline’s hand was apparently forced in this matter because they couldn’t utilize the aircraft originally chartered by Sevilla FC due to a technical issue. Sevilla FC had been in Vigo for a match against Celta Vigo, which ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw.
The specific aircraft deployed for the flight to Seville was a CRJ1000 operated by Air Nostrum on behalf of Iberia Regional. Iberia offers multiple daily flights from Madrid to Vigo, with one of these flights operated by Air Nostrum, while Iberia’s Airbus A320 family aircraft serve the remaining services.
In a statement published by Air Nostrum on X, the airline apologized profusely for the incident, and stated that it would be contacting all affected passengers within the next week to compensate them for the inconvenience caused
