The passengers on Eurowings flight EW8760 actually booked a non-stop flight from Berlin-Brandenburg to Innsbruck. But despite the weather in the Tyrolean state capital being suitable for flying, they got a non-stop flight to Munich with a subsequent journey in a coach to Innsbruck. The passengers on the return flight EW8761 were also affected.

On January 27, 2024, passengers are scheduled to fly from Berlin to Innsbruck with the Airbus A320, which has the registration D-AEWM. Actually a routine flight that is in high demand in winter due to the ski areas in Tyrol. But it wasn't an everyday occurrence for the passengers, because instead of going to the Tyrolean state airport they went to Munich.

Innsbruck Airport is known for often not being able to be used in bad weather due to its geographical location. Most of the time the planes then divert to Munich, Salzburg or Linz. In rare cases, the diversion is also completed in Friedrichshafen or Memmingen. Safety is always a priority and if the weather – temporarily – does not allow flying to/from Innsbruck, pretty much every passenger understands this.

Pilots need special training for Innsbruck

On January 27, 2024, the cause was definitely not the weather, because the Tyrolean state airport could be used by all providers throughout the day without any problems. However, Eurowings decided that the Innsbruck flight EW8760 would land in Munich instead of Innsbruck. The reason behind this is that pilots need additional training in order to be able to take off and land at Tyrol Airport. And that's exactly what the pilots who were in the cockpit of the D-AEWM simply didn't have.

In other words: The carrier has assigned pilots to this pair of courses who are not allowed to fly to Innsbruck due to a lack of additional training. The conscientious pilots did not violate this, but flew from Berlin to Munich and back. For the passengers, however, this meant that the travelers then had to be taken from Munich to Innsbruck by coach. Those who wanted to go from Tyrol to Berlin were first taken by bus to the Bavarian state airport.

Understandably, many of those affected were upset about this, because the weather in Innsbruck was good and people sometimes paid a lot of money to be transported non-stop on this route. Some people were not at all enthusiastic about the time-consuming bus trip and expressed their dissatisfaction with Eurowings' behavior on social media.

But how is it that pilots are assigned who are not allowed to fly to/from Innsbruck? No one could explain this completely conclusively, but it wasn't just a matter of oversight. Rather, there was a short-term shortage of personnel, so that there were simply not two pilots with Innsbruck training available in Berlin at the time of departure. So that travelers don't get stuck in the German capital or those on the return flight don't get stuck in Innsbruck, it was decided that the flight would go to/from Munich and buses would be made available as onward transport or feeder. Not ideal, but still better than completely painted?