Holidaymaker will be stuck in North Macedonia for days after runway melts at Luton Airport

Kasia Parfitt has been stranded in Macedonia since her flight to Luton was cancelled. Credit: ITV News
Workers repairing the runway at Luton Airport, which led to delays for Kasia Parfitt and other passengers. Credit: ITV News

A holidaymaker has been stranded in the Balkans all thanks to hot weather 1,600 miles away.

Airlines were forced to divert and cancel flights after a section of runway at Luton Airport melted in searing heat on Monday.

The "surface defect" was identified on the runway at around 3.45pm and the runway was closed until just after 6pm.

But it caused a major ripple effect for travellers trying to return home.

Kasia Parfitt - optimistic she'll get home on Wednesday

One of those was Kasia Parfitt, from Wales, who was due to fly back into Luton on Monday night, from Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia.

But just as she was preparing to board her flight home, came the news that they would not be going anywhere.

"We just got basically told to sit down. And that we couldn't go anywhere because they didn't know when we were going to board the plane," she told ITV News Anglia.

"So we got told no food, no going to the toilet, we just had to sit and wait."

The WizzAir flight had originally been scheduled to leave at 6.40pm, and the passengers were eventually asked to board the plane at 9pm local time.

"We got on the plane at 9pm. and then it didn't take off. We had an announcement saying it's now delayed until 11pm. So we all were a bit annoyed, but we thought, 'okay, we're still going'.

"And then about another 10 minutes passed and we just got told 'it's cancelled, everyone get off the plane'. And I don't think anyone knew it was going to happen because the cabin crew walking past me at the time and their faces were in shock. "

Ms Parfitt was put up in a hotel, but said she did not know when she would get home.

"Unfortunately, what happens with the flights from Skopje to Luton they only run once a day, every other day. So we're now stuck until at least Wednesday.

"I'm going to be optimistic that yes, I can get back on Wednesday because they've now fixed the issue at Luton and hopefully there will be cabin crew. But obviously I understand there's a lot of delays."

Ms Parfitt, who is originally from Cambridgeshire, said she was still waiting for confirmation that she could get on Wednesday's flight home.

"It's stressful and obviously we've got jobs to get back to, which we can't get back to right now. It's just trying to remain calm as there's literally nothing we can do about it."