Sunseekers hopping on Norwich Airport flights this week have instead found themselves in Scotland or Derbyshire.

TUI Airlines flights have been disrupted once again this week due to staff operational issues.

A flight from Norwich to Mahon - which is located in the Spanish island of Menorca - was diverted to Aberdeen on Wednesday morning.

A spokeswoman for TUI said: "We fully understand customers’ frustration due to the delay of flight TOM5380 from Norwich to Mahon.

"We can confirm the flight had to make a short stop via Aberdeen to provide a replacement crew member for another TUI flight.

"Customers landed safely in Mahon and we'd like to thank customers for their patience and understanding."

Norwich Evening News: Norwich Airport. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYNorwich Airport. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Archant)

Then on Friday evening, a flight from Dalaman in Turkey to Norwich was delayed by five hours.

This meant passengers were sent to East Midlands Airport overnight after the delay went beyond Norwich Airport's opening hours.

A TUI spokeswoman said: "Due to the evening closure time at Norwich, TOM713 from Dalman diverted to East Midlands.

"Due to a late arriving aircraft, caused by operational disruption, we had to delay the flight.

"In order to comply with the operational times of the airport, customers arrived into East Midlands Airport.

"Customers were regularly updated and provided onward transportation to Norwich Airport.

"We’d like to apologise to all customers inconvenienced by this delay and we thank them for their patience and understanding."

This delay then had a knock-on impact on a flight from Norwich to Palma on Saturday morning.

TUI announced a three hour and 50 minute delay to the TOM5662 flight with a new departure time of 11.30am.

It comes after two flights to Mallorca and Corfu were diverted to Belfast International Airport last week.

TUI flights out of Norwich Airport are operated by Sunwing on behalf of TUI Airways using pilots from the outsource company.

But these Sunwing pilots cannot operate on TUI aircraft, the airline has explained - although TUI cabin crew are trained to operate on Sunwing aircraft.

TUI has said its recovery options at Norwich are less straightforward compared to some of the larger aircraft bases.

Outsource company explains summer of travel chaos

Albastar is one of the airlines outsourced by TUI alongside Sunwing.

Commenting on this summer's disruption, a spokeswoman for the company said: "There has been mass disruption of flights all over Europe because of lack of airport and security staff.

"Delays of this sort impact our operation and having more aircraft will make no difference if the problems lie at each individual airport.

"We are proud to fly for TUI and from Norwich and we do our best to minimise delays.

"Unlike many other airlines that have cancelled thousands of flights, we do not cancel charter flights even if this means a major delay.

"While it is very regrettable to delay a flight, avoiding cancellations means the passengers avoid having to search for alternative flights at maybe a much higher price which can severely affect the economics of their holidays."