Diversions due to fog at Perth on 11 July 2012

3 thoughts on “Diversions due to fog at Perth on 11 July 2012”

1. I was supposed to fly on the SQ216 on that morning from Perth to Singapore then to London. (Flying in Economy)
   However, the incoming SQ215 had to divert to Adelaide due to the fog. We arrived at the airport at about 10PM. The airline kept saying that our new departure time was 11PM, 2AM, 7AM. They did that about 5 times during the night. Singapore wasn’t overly helpful and only gave us blankets to sleep on the couches. They also gave us a $15 meal voucher to spend. We understand that the weather is out of SQ’s control but we would have liked them to be upfront because they knew that the flight wasn’t going to come in-time.
   We tried to ask the gate staff to let us in to the SQ lounge and we were willing to pay but they didn’t.
   The Cathay flight departed because the aircraft had already arrived at the airport and there was no problem with the aircraft taking off.
   In the end, the airline told us to go home at about 5.30AM. We were at the airport for about 7.5hrs. We later found out that the SQ224 was not cancelled because the fog was cleared by then. We were puzzled, because when the aircraft came back to Perth, we were not contacted to go on the flight to Singapore.
   In the end, we got the SQ215 on the next morning, our flight from SIN-LHR was full and we had to go to BKK with Singapore and have a 6 hr stopover there. We then flew on an old BA 777 to LHR.
   The funny thing was, we usually fly on the evening SQ226 or on Qatar Airways or Emirates, but that one time we chose the night SQ flight.

2. SQ225, due at arrive in Perth at 5am, was diverted on 04 July 2015 to Adelaide due to fog.

   This caused some confusion as passengers initially thought they would be resting at the Adelaide airport but instead had to wait in the cabin.
   The plane took off again after refueling. Passengers were offered fluid and muffins to hydrate. No more food was served. No coffee either as they probably ran out of cutlery. The passengers who had skipped inflight breakfast on the assumption that they would touch down for breakfast in Perth now had to look forward to lunch.
   That was about 6 hours detour in total. Everyone was well-behaved most likely because the plane was not full.
   Diversion is so rare nobody knows what to expect, even the family wasn’t sure whether to pick up the passengers from the domestic airport, as some Apps report the flight to have arrive from Adelaide.

   One suggestion to the industry, if you are refueling the plane, you might as well replenish the food, and stock up on hot drink paper cups!

   And by the way, why Adelaide, what about all the other airports in WA?

   1. There are few airports near Perth with runways of sufficient strength and length to take large airliner diversions, and customs clearance is another issue if passengers have to leave the aircraft.
      Learmonth (Exmouth), Port Hedland, and Adelaide are the nearest suitable diversion airports, if Perth is foggy.
      The WA Government is looking for a suitable diversion airport for Perth as part of their State Aviation Strategy. Geraldton or Busselton would seem logical options, or perhaps Kalgoorlie.
      Regards,
      David Eyre

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