TAP Air Portugal flight #TP359 from London Heathrow to Lisbon diverted to Porto on November 28th, 2017, with superstar Madonna on board.
The airline first stated to Airline Safety-Rating agency AviRate that the Airbus A319 diverted to Porto due to an in-flight fuel shortage, which is an incomprehensible statement according to the flight path.
TAP later told Airlive the flight diverted after holding close to Lisbon for more than 30 minutes, because “Lisbon Airport was operating under LVO conditions (Low Visibility Operations)“, which is again a very questionable statement. The aircraft was holding north of Porto for less than 20 minutes (see picture above). And Lisbon Airport did not confirm TAP’s statement regarding LVO.
Weather reports show there was wind speed of 17km/h (9kts) and only slight rain at the estimated arrival time of the flight, both does not justify a diversion.
British media outlets already reported that American music star Madonna was on board the aircraft, sitting in economy class, despite having an estimated net worth of around 800 million USD.
After the flight landed at Porto Airport at 4:33 pm local time, Madonna was talking to the crew on-board while her assistant was making phone calls. 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 flight took off again at 5:48 pm and arrived in Lisbon with a total delay of two hours.
TAP Air Portugal, Lisbon Airport and Porto Airport all refused to comment to both Airlive and AviRate.
It is highly believed that TAP Air Portugal flight #TP359 from London Heathrow to Lisbon diverted to Porto, on request of Madonna.
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