Could this have been managed in a better way ? Qantas says, they tried their best but could not accomodate the stranded passengers at Geraldton Airport.
After they were forced to sleep at Geraldton Airport overnight , rather than flying to Perth , unhappy passengers have received an apology from Qantas, the national carrier.
Heavy fog conditions caused chaos for multiple flights , two of which were forced to land at Geraldton Airport , but aircraft couldn’t leave, because the crew had already logged excess hours.
At the same time , three other flights from Canberra , Adelaide and Port Hedland were also diverted to airports across WA but did manage to get to Perth.
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Passengers on board two Qantas flights from Broome and Newman in WA bound for Perth were unexpectedly diverted to Geraldton Airport, 410 km north of Perth on Tuesday evening.
The inconvenienced passengers said they were forced to sleep in the dark and freezing cold airport with little communication from Qantas , wearing clothes intended for warm weather.
Not New ! Qantas is aware of such situations , and in a separate talk with 'Sydney radio 2GB' , Qantas domestic and international CEO Andrew David has apologised after a series of complaints from the frustrated passengers who in recent months have suffered delayed and cancelled flights, long queues at airports and lost baggage.
What did the Passengers say ?
“They just left us at Geraldton Airport and said, ‘We’ve done our hours for today, we’re not going anywhere.'”
Another unhappy traveller , Angela Hall, called out the airline in a Facebook post and said,
“Qantas, you’re so un-Australian!”
According to the stranded passengers , The pilot and crew left for a hotel, they left all their passengers, including the elderly, miners and children, at the airport overnight without food, water or care.
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Qantas has released a statement to Perth radio station 6PR !
“A number of flights were diverted away from Perth overnight due to fog around the airport making it unsafe to land.
“The crew on two flights that had diverted to Geraldton were unable to continue to Perth due to reaching the limit on the hours they can work.
“We attempted to find last minute accommodation for all customers of these flights but unfortunately due to a shortage of available hotel rooms, customers stayed in the airport terminal overnight.
“We apologise to these customers and we thank them for their understanding. We know this would have been an uncomfortable night but the conditions were not safe to land in Perth and our crew couldn’t safely continue once the fog had lifted."
Meanwhile , Qantas customers in Sydney were left outraged after 13 flights were cancelled, while Andrew David admitted to 'Sydney radio 2GB' , “that we haven’t delivered in recent months.”
“We are the national carrier, people have high expectations of us, we have high expectations of ourselves and clearly over the last few months we have not been delivering what we did pre-COVID.”
Acknowledging the staff shortage , David informed that the airline was also recruiting more staff and had already hired 1000 new people since Easter, when airports around the country were at gridlock as people flocked to travel again after state borders reopened.
“As those staff get trained … then hopefully we can add that capacity back in that we’ve taken out to adjust for the operation pressures we’re under,” David said.
