Jetstar forced to cancel flight days after issuing apology to passengers

Just days after issuing an apology to customers over ongoing flight disruptions, Jetstar has been forced to cancel another flight enraging passengers.

Just two days after promising customers smooth sailing amid a trail of cancelled flights and disruptions, a Jetstar flight from Honolulu to Melbourne has been dumped, with passengers receiving just 24 hours’ notice.

Passengers were told about the cancelled flight prior to arriving at the airport on the popular holiday island, and issued $300 vouchers for accommodation.
In a statement to news.com.au, a spokesperson for the airline said engineers had been “working around the clock” to fix the aircraft so it could depart from Honolulu as soon as possible.

“Our engineers have been working around the clock to replace a damaged windscreen on one of our Boeing 787 aircraft in Honolulu,” the statement read.

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A flight from Honolulu to Melbourne was cancelled just says after Jetstar promised flight time reliability would improve. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui

“Unfortunately, there has been a delay in the arrival of spare parts being shipped from overseas, which has resulted in a 24-hour delay to a flight from Honolulu to Melbourne, which was due to depart today.

“Impacted customers in Honolulu will be reimbursed for accommodation expenses, meals and other reasonable expenses including transport to the airport and visa extension costs, on a case-by-case basis.

“We understand how frustrating and inconvenient disruptions are and we sincerely apologise to customers impacted by this unavoidable change.”

The cancellation comes days after the budget airline promised consumers that flight disruptions would be a thing of the past, especially heading into the Christmas period.

On Monday, Jetstar chief operating officer Matthew Franzi told 9 News that “bad luck” was primarily to blame for the months of disruptions, and that losing aircraft only added to the airline’s headache.

Jetstar has faced ongoing heat over cancelled flights. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Luis Enrique Ascui

“We know we haven’t delivered to the customer expectation,” Mr Franzi said, noting that the airline’s fleet was back to normal after two Boeing 787s were out of action for a month.

Jetstar engineer Greg Evans said that by bringing back more aircraft, disruptions and cancellations will be reduced.

“We plan to have spare aircraft. To lose two aircraft in such quick succession made a significant impact on our operation,” he said.

“It had nothing to do with the pandemic. It was kind of just bad luck in a way that these things happened at the same time.”

A flight out of Hawaii to Melbourne was cancelled just days after Jetstar promised flights would be better for customers. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nicholas Eagar

But closer to home, passengers on a flight out of Perth to the Gold Coast weren’t given quite as much notice ahead of their cancelled flight – with one family having already checked in their luggage when they were told their journey had been dumped.

Appearing on the Today show on Wednesday, a family of six claimed they were left in the lurch after they were about to get on board having already checked in bags, when they were told an hour before departure their flight had been cancelled due to a mechanical issue.

“I am very disappointed. I know they got issues,” one of the family members said.