LONDON – As the deportation controversy continues in the UK, it has emerged only eight passengers will fly to Rwanda tonight on the Privilege Style charter.
It is understood that one passenger has already failed in their appeal to be removed from the country, with there being three more active appeals taking place.
The government has insisted that the flight will depart tonight, regardless of what happens, although a backtrack from No.10 Downing Street has come about stating they are unsure if the flight will depart.
Delays to the flight could occur on the basis of waiting for appeals to be heard by the high court, and ultimately for a decision as well.
What Does Privilege Style Have To Do With This?
Privilege Style is the charter carrier that will be operating the first deportation flight. A license was given by the Civil Aviation Authority under Article 250 to initially operate the flight to Kigali from London Stansted.
However, data from RadarBox.com has highlighted the aircraft will instead depart from Boscombe Down, which is an RAF/MOD base.
EC-LZO, the Boeing 767 landed in Boscombe Down at 0951 local time this morning from Dusseldorf after doing a round of charter flights for German leisure carrier Condor.
It is expected that the flight will depart at 2130 UTC, which was the slot originally given to the aircraft, but from London Stansted.
Now that it has landed at Boscombe Down, it is unclear when in the evening this flight is due to depart.
Freedom from Torture, a pressure group based in the UK, has sent protestors to Privilege Style’s headquarters in Palma de Mallorca today to protest about these flights.
Kolbassia Haoussou MBE, Director of Survivor Empowerment at Freedom from Torture was also at the protest, and had this to say on the matter:
“In the last week alone, people in the UK have made hundreds of calls and sent over 30,000 letters to airlines suspected of involvement in the UK government’s cruel Rwanda scheme.”
“Privilege Style thought they could ignore us, so we traveled to their headquarters in Mallorca to give them the message directly.”
“Across the UK, everyone from people protesting in the streets to the heir to the throne has spoken out against this neocolonial ‘cash for humans’ policy.”
“With torture survivors believed to be on tonight’s flight, it is crucial that we unite to show airlines like Privilege Style that we won’t tolerate them flying in the face of human decency.”
Everything Is Still In The Air…
What remains clear is that everything is still in the air regarding the departure time and date of this Privilege Style Boeing 767.
As we continue to wait for more information on the status of the passengers and the flight itself, AviationSource News will update followers in due course.
But for now, all we can do is sit and wait to see whether the flight in question will get the greenlight and whether the UK Government can begin its policy of refugee deportation to Rwanda.
