From Sydney… to Sydney: Qantas flight loops back after massive airport shutdown
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In most cases, when you board a plane in one place, you have the expectation that you'll arrive at a different destination a few hours later, able to enjoy everything it has to offer.
But strangely, passengers on one recent Qantas flight experienced a serious hiccup on their flight — it ended up being a flight all the way back to where they started!
On New Year’s Day, passengers of flight QF19 from Sydney to Manila, Philippines were forced to turn around three hours after take-off and make a loop all the way back — another three hours — to the Harbour City.
Now, we know what you’re probably thinking: ‘Ugh, Qantas! What did you lot do this time?!’
For once though, it’s not their fault!
You see, in what was a very strange time for flying in modern times, the airspace over the Philippines was completely devoid of aeroplanes.
While the tropical country’s skies were eerily empty, on the ground at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), chaos ensued.
The streets leading up to the airport were jampacked with traffic, and inside, increasingly irate passengers were losing their heads as to why no flights were taking off (Just a thought: say a prayer for the ground crew on duty that day…).
The culprit: technical issues experienced with air traffic control. According to local reports, there was an issue with the power supply at the airport that ultimately led to the shutdown of NAIA’s air traffic control system.
A total of 282 flights were either delayed, cancelled or diverted, and an estimated 56,000 passengers were affected.
The Qantas flight arrived back at Sydney at 7.47 pm, refuelled, and took off again at around 10 pm.
In a statement, Qantas explained: ‘All airlines were prevented from arriving into Manila on Sunday afternoon as local authorities closed the local airspace…This meant our flight from Sydney had to turn around.’
It is understood that the whole affair is one of national concern in the Philippines, whose Senate is bent on explanations on what caused such a sorry thing to happen.
‘What a way to welcome the New Year at our country’s airports,’ said Senator Grace Poe on Twitter.
‘We will conduct an inquiry to find out who is liable and how we can avoid this from happening again.’
Operations at the airport have started to normalise after the air traffic control system went back online.
One emerging cause for the air traffic control system shutdown is said to be outdated equipment, according to local reports.
Something similar happened back home in 2017 when a ‘total radar failure’ bogged down operations at Sydney Airport on the first day of school holidays.
Just days earlier, Jetstar travellers were also turned away from Denpasar International Airport in Indonesia just minutes before they were due to land, meaning they had to fly back to Melbourne after 4 hours in the air.
This time though, it was the airline at fault as subsequent reporting revealed that Jetstar failed to communicate a sudden change in the aeroplane — from an Airbus A321 to a Boeing 787 — to accommodate more passengers.
‘Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the swap to a larger aircraft had not been approved by the local regulator in Indonesia. As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne, and we have rebooked passengers on a flight later today,’ a spokesperson for Jetstar said.
‘We know this has been an extremely frustrating experience for customers and sincerely apologise for what happened,’ they added.
‘We’ve begun a review to understand how the miscommunication happened so we can prevent it from occurring again.’
Let's hope these issues make airlines and airports much more vigilant in maintaining their equipment and communication in the future.
Besides, when you think about it, arriving at your destination doesn’t guarantee a great holiday experience.
Just ask one family who arrived at their Airbnb booking, only to find out that it wasn’t what they asked for.
You might also want to check out why you shouldn’t stand willy-nilly in an aisle, even if only to stretch your legs, according to an ex-flight attendant.
What is your reaction to this story? Have you ever experienced being on a flight or a trip that got turned back or didn’t proceed for one reason or another?
Share your thoughts and experiences below!
Source: YouTube/ABC News Australia
But strangely, passengers on one recent Qantas flight experienced a serious hiccup on their flight — it ended up being a flight all the way back to where they started!
On New Year’s Day, passengers of flight QF19 from Sydney to Manila, Philippines were forced to turn around three hours after take-off and make a loop all the way back — another three hours — to the Harbour City.
Now, we know what you’re probably thinking: ‘Ugh, Qantas! What did you lot do this time?!’
For once though, it’s not their fault!
Qantas flight QF19 was forced to turn back after a massive outage at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Screengrab Credit: YouTube/Qantas
You see, in what was a very strange time for flying in modern times, the airspace over the Philippines was completely devoid of aeroplanes.
While the tropical country’s skies were eerily empty, on the ground at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), chaos ensued.
The streets leading up to the airport were jampacked with traffic, and inside, increasingly irate passengers were losing their heads as to why no flights were taking off (Just a thought: say a prayer for the ground crew on duty that day…).
The culprit: technical issues experienced with air traffic control. According to local reports, there was an issue with the power supply at the airport that ultimately led to the shutdown of NAIA’s air traffic control system.
A total of 282 flights were either delayed, cancelled or diverted, and an estimated 56,000 passengers were affected.
The Qantas flight arrived back at Sydney at 7.47 pm, refuelled, and took off again at around 10 pm.
This image of air traffic over the Philippines just past noon last January 1, 2023 shows its usually busy airspace having zero planes. Image Credit: Twitter/@Flightradar24
In a statement, Qantas explained: ‘All airlines were prevented from arriving into Manila on Sunday afternoon as local authorities closed the local airspace…This meant our flight from Sydney had to turn around.’
It is understood that the whole affair is one of national concern in the Philippines, whose Senate is bent on explanations on what caused such a sorry thing to happen.
‘What a way to welcome the New Year at our country’s airports,’ said Senator Grace Poe on Twitter.
‘We will conduct an inquiry to find out who is liable and how we can avoid this from happening again.’
Operations at the airport have started to normalise after the air traffic control system went back online.
One emerging cause for the air traffic control system shutdown is said to be outdated equipment, according to local reports.
Something similar happened back home in 2017 when a ‘total radar failure’ bogged down operations at Sydney Airport on the first day of school holidays.
This image from Flight Radar shows low air traffic over the Philippines on Christmas Day. Image Credit: Twitter/@Flightradar24
Just days earlier, Jetstar travellers were also turned away from Denpasar International Airport in Indonesia just minutes before they were due to land, meaning they had to fly back to Melbourne after 4 hours in the air.
This time though, it was the airline at fault as subsequent reporting revealed that Jetstar failed to communicate a sudden change in the aeroplane — from an Airbus A321 to a Boeing 787 — to accommodate more passengers.
‘Unfortunately, due to a miscommunication, the swap to a larger aircraft had not been approved by the local regulator in Indonesia. As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne, and we have rebooked passengers on a flight later today,’ a spokesperson for Jetstar said.
‘We know this has been an extremely frustrating experience for customers and sincerely apologise for what happened,’ they added.
‘We’ve begun a review to understand how the miscommunication happened so we can prevent it from occurring again.’
Let's hope these issues make airlines and airports much more vigilant in maintaining their equipment and communication in the future.
Just ask one family who arrived at their Airbnb booking, only to find out that it wasn’t what they asked for.
You might also want to check out why you shouldn’t stand willy-nilly in an aisle, even if only to stretch your legs, according to an ex-flight attendant.
What is your reaction to this story? Have you ever experienced being on a flight or a trip that got turned back or didn’t proceed for one reason or another?
Share your thoughts and experiences below!
Source: YouTube/ABC News Australia
