Blackout on Holguín airport runway forces two flights to Jamaica to be diverted

Two flights of the airline Air Transat, TS956 and TS2674, have had to be diverted to Jamaica when they were unable to land at the Holguín airport due to a blackout on the runway. The two planes, coming from Toronto and Halifax, had to abort the landing maneuver and head towards Montego Bay, in Jamaica, as confirmed by the company itself.Cuban Diary.

At least one of the two flights made a couple of laps around the runway at the Holguín airport before heading toward Jamaica because it was dark at the time of landing. However, the local press has not reported the supply cut and has dedicated the opening headlines to the visit of the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, to the municipality of Antilla, to talk about the potential of the port that is not exploited due to lack of Repair and Maintenance.

From the Holguín airport they waited for the two Air Transat planes diverted to Jamaica to touch down on Wednesday afternoon. The company affected by the power outage is dedicated to vacation tourism and has connections from Canada with Havana, Santa Clara and Holguín.

Despite the many complaints from Canadian tourists, they continue to come to the Island.One of the tourists who had the worst time in Cuba was Deanna Lang, who even filed a lawsuit against the travel company Sunwing., from Toronto, to recover the $8,000 he paid for a trip to the Cuban resort of Varadero. The woman, who stayed with her mother and five children at the Memories Varadero Beach Resort, said the trip turned into a nightmare due to multiple problems at the hotel, including lack of food and cockroaches everywhere.

After three days without blackouts, Cubans have once again faced darkness. The news ofa deficit of 250 MWand the going out of service of important thermoelectric units has caused a wave of reactions among citizens, who have not hesitated to express their frustration on social networks,even blaming the eclipse of the sun for the interruptions of the electrical service on the Island.

Cubans face power outages with a mixture of resignation, humor and discontent, flooding social networks with comments such as: "What did you expect? That the blackouts are over?"

Last Monday, the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) announced that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest in the country, would be undergoing maintenance until this Wednesday.The Matanzas plant has been out of service for 72 hours, "to eliminate defects in the boiler."

This notice came after the Government had assured that the Guiteras thermoelectric plant would go into maintenance in the month of October.