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2 Air France planes grounded, 282 passengers stranded in freezing Siberia

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

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Beijing: It was supposed to be an 11-hour journey when passengers boarded Air France flight AF116 in Paris last Saturday night, they expected to land in Shanghai on Sunday evening.

 

But, unfortunately, for three days, 280 passengers remained stuck in a remote town
in Siberia, where overnight temperatures plunged to nearly -20 degrees Celsius (-4
degrees Fahrenheit).

 

The original Boeing 777-300ER plane was diverted to Irkutsk on Sunday after
experiencing “a technical problem”, Air France said in a statement.

 

The plane landed safely after reporting smoke in the cabin and none of the 280
people on board were hurt, a Russian news agency cited a local airport official as
saying.

 

After realising repairs couldn’t be done quickly enough on the ground, the airline sent a second B777 from Paris to the Russian city to pick up the stranded passengers.

 

But that plane broke down as well upon arriving at the Irkutsk airport, according to
the statement, forcing the French flag carrier to send a third B777 to Siberia.

 

Posting on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China, one Chinese passenger
complained about the chaos after the unscheduled landing — including two lengthy
waits for hotel rooms, while lacking access to both their luggage and passports,
which were withheld by local officials.

 

“I’d like to ask Air France: Don’t you perform regular maintenance on your aircraft?
Why are they experiencing such a high rate of mechanical problems?” wrote the
passenger.

 

The first two aircraft had been in service for more than 14 years, and the third one
joined the Air France fleet nearly a decade ago.

 

The twin-engine, widebody B777s are the workhorses of many airlines around the
world. The three Air France B777-300ERs involved seat up to 318 passengers.

 

The third and final aircraft finally made it to Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon with
the unlucky fliers on board.

 

Air France expressed regret over the “exceptional situation” and apologised to the passengers in its statement, stressing safety was its top priority.

 

It went on to add that its team in Russia worked with local authorities to
accommodate the affected customers, who would be contacted for “suitable” compensation.

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