SINGAPORE: Passengers on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight that had been scheduled to depart Shanghai, China on Wednesday (Sep 6) afternoon were made to wait for hours on the tarmac while technical issues were sorted, with the flight ultimately being cancelled.
In response to CNA's queries, a spokesperson for SIA said on Friday the airline "sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused to customers by the flight cancellation of SQ833 on Sep 6, 2023".
SQ833 from Shanghai to Singapore was supposed to take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 4.50pm on Wednesday. Singapore and China share the same time zone.
A spokesperson for SIA said that Airbus A380 aircraft "encountered technical issues when the aircraft was still on the ground".
In a Facebook post dated 1.45am on Thursday, user Annie Li shared a video showing passengers, many out of their seats, in the economy class section of the aircraft. There was "no air conditioning and not enough air circulation" in the plane, Ms Li wrote.
Ms Li said that passengers were still onboard the plane at 12.35am. In a comment within the post, she wrote: "It was plane technical issue. So they turned off engine twice for total more than 2 hours. And locked everyone in the cabin 8 hours while they tried to fix the issue."
A spokesperson for SIA said that "for safety reasons, the ground power had to be disabled while the checks were going on".
Customers on board the plane were served meals as well as refreshments, with the company's ground staff also on board to assist.
However, the airline did not reply CNA's query as to why the passengers were not allowed to disembark the plane while checks were going on.
Data on flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed the plane leaving its gate and returning after.
In another post at 1.46am on Thursday, Ms Li uploaded a video showing a large group of people waiting with their luggage in an airport terminal.
She wrote: "1:30am!!! look at the queue at airport after all passengers finally got out of cabin." She observed that there were only two members of ground staff attending to "hundreds of people".
According to SIA, the passengers disembarked the plane at 12.30am, with their hotel accommodation also arranged.
It added that the decision to cancel the flight was made as more time was "required to fix the technical issue".
All affected customers were rebooked on other flights on Thursday and have since departed Shanghai.
A Flightradar24 playback of Singapore Airlines flight SQ833 on Sep 6, 2023. (Screengrab: Flightradar24)
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In response to CNA's queries, a spokesperson for SIA said on Friday the airline "sincerely apologises for the inconvenience caused to customers by the flight cancellation of SQ833 on Sep 6, 2023".
SQ833 from Shanghai to Singapore was supposed to take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 4.50pm on Wednesday. Singapore and China share the same time zone.
A spokesperson for SIA said that Airbus A380 aircraft "encountered technical issues when the aircraft was still on the ground".
In a Facebook post dated 1.45am on Thursday, user Annie Li shared a video showing passengers, many out of their seats, in the economy class section of the aircraft. There was "no air conditioning and not enough air circulation" in the plane, Ms Li wrote.
Ms Li said that passengers were still onboard the plane at 12.35am. In a comment within the post, she wrote: "It was plane technical issue. So they turned off engine twice for total more than 2 hours. And locked everyone in the cabin 8 hours while they tried to fix the issue."
A spokesperson for SIA said that "for safety reasons, the ground power had to be disabled while the checks were going on".
Customers on board the plane were served meals as well as refreshments, with the company's ground staff also on board to assist.
However, the airline did not reply CNA's query as to why the passengers were not allowed to disembark the plane while checks were going on.
Data on flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed the plane leaving its gate and returning after.
In another post at 1.46am on Thursday, Ms Li uploaded a video showing a large group of people waiting with their luggage in an airport terminal.
She wrote: "1:30am!!! look at the queue at airport after all passengers finally got out of cabin." She observed that there were only two members of ground staff attending to "hundreds of people".
According to SIA, the passengers disembarked the plane at 12.30am, with their hotel accommodation also arranged.
It added that the decision to cancel the flight was made as more time was "required to fix the technical issue".
All affected customers were rebooked on other flights on Thursday and have since departed Shanghai.
A Flightradar24 playback of Singapore Airlines flight SQ833 on Sep 6, 2023. (Screengrab: Flightradar24)
Continue reading...