Good evening, Salem.
A malfunctioning airplane bathroom caused dozens of Salemites to spend an extra half day in Las Vegas awaiting their return trip home on Avelo Airlines.
After the first commercial flight from Salem in 15 years took off Thursday, the return flight on Sunday, Oct. 8, was late by 10 and a half hours, according to the airline’s website.
The plane, scheduled to return to Salem at 9:15 a.m., instead landed at 7:45 p.m. Mayor Chris Hoy was among the passengers delayed returning home.
“The reason for the delay was a maintenance issue with the lavatory waste hose and valve,” according to airline spokeswoman Courtney Goff. “This was a maintenance issue that rarely occurs. Our teams in Las Vegas found the problem and worked to effectively resolve the issue, unfortunately this took longer than expected.”
Other Sunday flights that were using the aircraft were delayed on Sunday. The airline saw no other impacts, Goff said.
“We only have positive things to say about Salem, unfortunately delays do happen, and we are always working to resolve those issues for a better experience for our customers,” she said in an email. “Even with this small setback, our service is highly reliable.”
City spokesman Trevor Smith said there was minimal disruption to Salem Airport operations.
“The most significant issue was communicating Sunday’s delay between Avelo ticketing, TSA screening, and the ground operations crews concerning their work schedules for Sunday,” he said in an email. “Those issues were resolved quickly and staff returned to the terminal to facilitate the deboarding and boarding process.”
When flights are delayed, the city can allow employees to come in late or leave earlier on days later in the week so they don’t work overtime. Smith said on Monday that it was too early in the week to know whether the city would incur overtime costs.
No employees of the Salem Police Department or Salem Fire Department had to work overtime because of the delayed flight, according to the agencies.
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