Phuket Airport investigates Jetstar grounding

PHUKET: Authorities at Phuket International Airport are investigating the grounding of a Jetstar flight on Friday night (May 12) that left overheated passengers trapped in the aircraft for two hours without air conditioning.

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By The Phuket News

Monday 15 May 2017, 12:40PM

Authorities at Phuket International Airport are investigating the grounding of the Jetstar flight on Friday night (May 12) that left overheated passengers trapped in the aircraft for two hours without air conditioning.Photo: AFP / file

Five people were removed from the grounded aircraft after fainting due to the heat.

A spokesperson for Airports of Thailand (AoT), which operates, Phuket Airport, told The Phuket News this morning (May 15), “We have yet to learn many details about the incident, but we can confirm we are investigating it.”

The aircraft was due to take off at 10pm, but soon stopped en route to the runway due to “technical faults”.

The budget airline was blasted on social media for the incident over the weekend.

“Jetstar’s service from Phuket to Melbourne overnight is horrific,” wrote student Claire McAlinden‎.

“A plane with no power, no air conditioning and a group of Aussies trying their best to understand why it was taking so long. We ended up staying on the tarmac for 2 hours. Babies were stripped down to nappies and still no answers from the captain.”

McAlinden said after finally disembarking the aircraft at 12:40am, passengers received an email saying the next flight would be at 4pm on Saturday, reported News,.com.au.

“It took hours for us to be told what to do and where to go. Being told we would have to front the bill for accommodation and travel expenses. Problem after problem after problem. Families with children / little people didn’t get to a hotel until 3:30am,” she wrote.

Another passenger posted that Jetstar allowed the agitated crowd off only after complaints.

“Finally after people continued to scream out to open the doors and one bloke fainted and started tripping out and a teenage girl began to have breathing issues, the decision was made to let passengers off,” he wrote.

A Jetstar spokesman acknowledged the problem and offered refunds for those not wishing to take the later flight.

“We apologise to all customers and thank them for their patience. The combination of technical issues with the aircraft and a customer needing to get off due to a medical condition meant a lengthy delay to the flight back from Phuket,” he said.

“Our cabin crew tried to make customers as comfortable (as possible), including providing cold water, while engineers were working on the aircraft. We have provided hotel accommodation and meals for all customers.”

The passengers were allocated to reboard the flight at 4pm on Saturday. The passengers arrived back in Melbourne Saturday night.

The incident comes weeks after Jetstar rejected a report naming it the world’s worst airline due to lengthy delays and poor service, reported The Sydney Morning Herald.

About one in three Jetstar passengers reported flight delays and the average hold-up was nearly four hours behind the scheduled time, according to the data complied by 11 international consumer groups including Australia’s Choice.