DELAYS and diversions left passengers annoyed after a reported issue with the runway at Bournemouth Airport forced a flight to land in Cardiff. 

An issue at the site in Hurn saw hundreds of passengers on the Ryanair flight face a prolonged journey from Spain.

Lyndsey Pitchford was scheduled to fly from Palma to Bournemouth on Saturday, August 27, but she was delayed by approximately five hours.

Flight FR828 was due to depart from Palma at 1.55pm but passengers were initially delayed at the airport by more than two hours.

Once passengers were finally on the plane, 15 minutes prior to landing, an unexpected announcement informed passengers that they would in fact be landing in Wales. 

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Lyndsey said: "We were told in an announcement 'I have some good news and bad news, the bad news is we are due to land in Cardiff in 15 minutes, the good news is that it is sunny in Cardiff' as imagined passengers were shocked at this turn of events and loudly shared frustrations in unison."

Passengers were subsequently told there was an issue with the runway at Bournemouth Airport, which was the reason for the diversion.

A second arrival due to land at Hurn on Saturday afternoon was diverted to Stanstead.

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Hours later passengers were informed the runway was repaired and they arrived back at Bournemouth at 8.11 pm - more than four hours later than initially scheduled. 

Another passenger affected by the runway issue was on a flight to Bergerac with Ryanair which was due to take off at 4.45pm, however they had to scrap their holiday after being informed the flight was cancelled.

They said: "Ryanair offered a refund voucher for the cancelled outbound flight, but nothing for our return flight we are now unable to use."

A spokesman for Bournemouth Airport said: “On Saturday afternoon the airport runway was closed for approximately one hour to allow for a small surface repair which was necessary following the recent spell of very hot weather.

"As a result there was disruption to some services and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this caused.”