MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Eastern Airlines cancellation leaves 140 passengers bound for Montevideo stranded

The cancellation was not due to a technical issue with the aircraft

About 140 passengers who should have already landed at Montevideo's Carrasco international airport were stranded in Miami after Eastern Airlines canceled its August 23 service “due to a crew problem.”

Eastern's sales agent in Montevideo Carlos Pera also explained the flight had not been grounded because of a technical malfunction of the Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

Among the stranded passengers was Club Atlético Peñarol official Evaristo González, who told the Montevideo daily El País that the flight had first been rescheduled from Aug. 22 to Aug. 23 and that after several delays they were offered mere excuses. Later on, they were assured their ticket money as well as the baggage surcharges were to be refunded, but they were offered no concrete solution.

Pera also pointed out the airline was trying to reschedule the flight for as soon as possible and that Eastern “would bear the cost of the COVID-19 tests” should they expire due to the delay in the return to Montevideo.

The company also said in a statement Tuesday that it will continue to operate twice a week to Montevideo and that “yesterday's cancellation was due to crew operational issues” and that it is ”working to protect these passengers.”

But Eastern had announced late last week it would be temporarily lifting its services between Miami and Asuncion after starting the route in January, which marked the return of non-stop flights between Paraguay and the United States after 5 years.

The carrier decided in April to increase its Asuncion operations to three weekly flights but went back to the original plan of two weekly services as of mid-July.

Among the reasons for the recall of the Paraguayan route were a sharp drop in demand, the closure of Argentina's borders, the increase in Copa Airlines flights to the Paraguayan capital and the reduction in vaccine tourism to the United States.

Eastern Airlines still announces the resumption of the Asuncion route by November 2, three times a week. The carrier still maintains 5 weekly nonstop services between New York and Guayaquil and was also said to be planning a new service between Miami and Santa Cruz de la Sierra starting in November, but so far there has been no announcement in that regard.