LISBON – A TAP Air Portugal flight bound for Lisbon from London’s Heathrow airport completely veered off its planned route apparently on the wishes of American pop diva Madonna, in line with practices of celebrity power.
Flight number TP359 carrying the superstar took off from London on November 28th, last year towards Lisbon, but it landed at the Porto with Airlive portal, leading to suspicions that the privilege was intentionally extended to Madonna- who was sitting in economy cabin -contrary to the claims of the airline which first stated to Airline Safety-Rating agency AviRate that the Airbus was diverted due to an in-flight fuel shortage.
The airline took another stance and told Airlive that the flight was diverted after hovering close to Lisbon for more than 30 minutes, because ‘Lisbon Airport was operating under LVO conditions (Low Visibility Operations)’.
But the rejoinder seems questionable as the aircraft was holding north of Porto for less than 20 minutes.
Moreover, what adds weight to the suspicion is the fact that Lisbon Airport did not confirm TAP’s statement regarding LVO.
Furthermore, weather reports show there was wind speed of 17km/h (9kts) and only slight rain at the estimated arrival time of the flight, contradicting the claims of the Portuguese carrier.
Another aspect that confirms the ‘unholy’ diversion is that the flight landed at Porto Airport at 4:33 pm local time and Madonna was talking to the crew onboard while her assistant was making phone calls, according to airlive.
The report added that a passenger heard the assistant saying ‘a car is waiting in front of the airport’. Shortly after that, Madonna left the aircraft via stairs and got into an airport bus, which brought her to the terminal.
The commercial flight that was transformed into a chartered one took off again at 5:48 pm and arrived in Lisbon causing a total delay of two hours.
Though TAP Air Portugal, Lisbon Airport and Porto Airport all refused to comment to both Airlive and AviRate, however, it is highly believed that TAP Air Portugal flight changed its aerial path at the request of Madonna, who currently has a net worth of around 800 million USD.
