Que?
Sounds pretty dodgy to me... shonky as!
"Manuel! Is that *you* in the cockpit??!!!"
Safety shmafety, what a value.
32 rows all on ONE side of the plane? Makes me believe that there is cargo below that couldn’t be loaded in a weight-balanced way, and the passengers positions were used to balance it out......I have a hard time believing that an inoperable emergency exit wouldn’t ground a plane.....
Some European airlines have a different attitude than US airlines. I once flew from Frankfurt to Thessalonki on Olympic Airways. The plane was ancient and the interior pretty ragged. During taxiing, two passengers were standing in the aisle and smoking, and another was rummaging in the overhead. The stewardesses weren’t concerned in the least. It was an experience.
If I remember my Airworthiness Directives correctly, Airbus has had a lot of problems with seats breaking. I think their problem was with the seat pan, but it has been a few years since I was neck deep in aviation. Didn’t actually read the article...was it an Airbus plane?
Could this be a cousin to The Grace L. Ferguson Airline And Storm Door Company?
Welcome to ‘Kamikaze Airlines’ the airline that can’t afford to crash.
I am not familiar with Spanish regs—but here is the likely explanation:
The door works. What does not work is the emergency exit slide, usually attached to the door in some fashion.
Thus in the event of aircraft evacuation that door should not be used as people would plunge to their death. In order to meet evacuation guidelines (usually 90 or 120 secs) the seats in the vicinity are not used. The door should be labeled as not useable for evacuaation, etc.
Or maybe the airplane was missing an engine, and that was the Spanish way to make sure they could get airborne.
...And just ignore that man behind the curtain (Wizard of OZ)