SINGAPORE: Passengers on a Tigerair flight from Xi’an to Singapore were left stranded after a delay of more than 24 hours.
Initially scheduled to take off at 11.35pm on Wednesday (Apr 26), passengers on flight TR2969 were told to disembark about two hours after they had boarded the plane, according to one Singaporean who was travelling on the flight.
Mr Soh Leh Koon, 58, had been in Xi’an attending a wedding with his brother and a friend. He told Channel NewsAsia that after getting off the plane, the passengers – about 150 by his estimate – were put up in a hotel, and told that a coach would take them back to the airport for a replacement flight on Thursday.
“This evening … we left at 8pm to go to the airport. Half an hour into the journey to the airport, the coach turned back and brought us back to the hotel again,” he told Channel NewsAsia on Thursday evening.
He said that the passengers were told the replacement plane had not left Singapore. The group returned to the hotel, where some passengers caused such a large commotion that the police had to be called, said Mr Soh.
When asked whether the airline had offered him compensation, he said that he had been offered a S$50 voucher, but that he was upset “more for our time wasted, especially for our other commitments”, adding that he would be missing some work commitments due to the delay.
In response to queries, a Tigerair spokesperson said the flight was delayed due to a fuel leak on the aircraft wing.
“The affected aircraft required more time for servicing and we hence applied for the necessary regulatory permits with the China authorities to send a ferry flight to Xi’an. In the meantime, our guests were accommodated in a hotel,” he said.
Approval for the replacement plane was granted at 9.30pm on Thursday, and the flight arrived in Xi’an at around 4am on Friday, the spokesperson said. The flight departed for Singapore at 5.30am and arrived at about 10am.
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