The flight left Lisbon on Saturday morning but ended up in Lisbon again, in the early hours of Sunday - only to arrive at Lajes International Airport at the end of the day.

The delay is justified by TAP due to adverse weather conditions and unexpected worsening throughout the day. In a clarification sent to Notícias ao Minuto, the airline guarantees that "it does everything to take its passengers to their destination and always with maximum safety".

"Due to adverse weather conditions in Terceira on Saturday, the first flight of the day had to return to Lisbon, with passengers disembarking and being offered a meal", the response reads.

They later boarded a second flight which, "also due to adverse weather conditions that had worsened in the meantime and unexpectedly, had to diverge to Ponta Delgada".

The plane was then refuelled and there was a waiting period, in an attempt to improve the weather at the destination. If not, "that flight also returned to Lisbon". In total, the passengers on this flight will have spent more than 15 hours on the plane to go... nowhere.

On Sunday there were the same weather conditions. Intense fog prevented landing at Lages Airport.

The plane circled the island several times and ended up having to diverge towards Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel.

Only later, in the early evening of this Sunday, would the plane land at its destination.