Qantas has sent over an Airbus A380 to Baku following the diversion of Flight QF1 yesterday. Passengers and crew from the diverted flight are still stuck in Azerbaijan, but help is now on the way. Let's take a closer look at this story below.

Qantas A380 en route to Baku

As Simple Flying reported yesterday, a cargo smoke warning forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to divert to Baku, Azerbaijan. Flight QF1 landed in Baku around 10 hours into its journey from Singapore Changi (SIN) to London Heathrow (LHR), originating in Sydney (SYD), due to what Qantas has deemed "a suspected faulty sensor in the cargo hold."

The Australian carrier is now flying a rescue Airbus A380 to Baku - Flight QF6025 took off from Sydney at 11:37 (UTC+11) and is currently cruising near Sri Lanka at the time of writing. The A380 is expected to reach Baku before 20:00 (UTC+4), over 36 hours after the diverted flight landed.

Qantas said in a statement,

"The aircraft operating the recovery flight is one of the operational spares that Qantas has on standby over the holiday season to help recover customers in the event of an unexpected disruption like this. Having these aircraft and additional pilots and cabin crew on standby has provided flexibility to operate the recovery flight at short notice and minimize the disruption to customers."

The recovery Airbus A380 (registration: VH-OQD) will then carry stranded passengers to their final destination at London Heathrow.

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Urgent government approval

Qantas said it was granted urgent approval by eight government authorities to get the replacement A380 over to Azerbaijan as quickly as possible.

The carrier said,

"Qantas would like to thank the Australian Government and seven foreign governments for urgently processing the necessary flight path approvals for this one-off recovery flight."

The airline adds that its engineers are currently en route to Baku via London and Sydney to inspect the affected aircraft (registration: VH-OQH). With an initial investigation finding no evidence of any smoke in the cargo hold, Qantas said it recognizes the disruption to travelers over the Christmas period but will "always put safety before schedule."

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Christmas to be saved?

Passengers stuck in Baku are now expected to arrive in London early on December 25th - they could face further delays due to the ongoing UK Border Force strike, and it isn't clear if their luggage will be traveling with them. According to Qantas, the affected passengers have "spent the night at the Marriott Hotel and been provided meals and transport."

However, the incident hasn't just affected those on the flight itself - Qantas passengers in London booked on the return leg have also been set back and are now unlikely to make it home to Sydney in time for Christmas. The recovery A380 will operate the return leg to Singapore and Sydney, but this won't leave until Christmas morning by the earliest.

One passenger told the Sydney Morning Herald,

"We were [meant] to fly tonight, 23 December, to Sydney. The whole intent was to be back home for Christmas. Now it looks like we may fly out on the 25th, arriving home on Boxing Day ... It’s very upsetting for my family, and I’m a bit stumped. I thought they would be better than this."

Scores of Qantas passengers are also stuck in Bali, Indonesia and are unlikely to make it home for Christmas. Bad weather led to the cancelation of Flight QF44 from Denpasar to Sydney, followed by crew members exceeding their duty limit.

Were you onboard Flight QF1 from Sydney to London Heathrow? Or are you stuck in London unable to fly back to Sydney? Let us know in the comments.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

• 

  Qantas

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  QF/QFA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Brisbane Airport, Melbourne Airport, Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport

  Year Founded:

  1920

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Alan Joyce

  Country:

  Australia