Jetstar flights in and out of Adelaide Airport to return to scheduled after global Airbus A320 warning
Jetstar flyers reliant on services in and out of Adelaide on Sunday will find some relief in the return to schedule of flights after a global plane issue caused chaos.
A global Airbus software issue that threw Adelaide Airport into turmoil on Saturday, grounding flights and sending snaking queues through the terminal, is largely rectified.
Eight Jetstar flights – four arrivals and four departures – and one Air New Zealand flight to Christchurch were axed on Saturday morning with passengers forming long queues at the airport.
It came after Airbus issued a warning of travel disruption as it upgrades a significant number of its A320 aircraft, after an incident on a JetBlue flight last month“revealed that intense solar radiation may corrupt data critical to the functioning of flight controls”.
In Australia, 90 Jetstar flights were cancelled on Saturday, with some services delayed, as 34 of its 85 Airbus A320/321 aircraft were directed to take precautionary action.
Other operators including Air New Zealand and easyJet were also impacted.
But in Adelaide it was Jetstar passengers who were the hardest hit.
An airport spokesman said delays of up to two hours were hitting other services from 1pm, with knock-on chaos expected to drag through the day.
Jetstar said 20 of the 34 affected aircraft across its fleet were ready to return to service as of 3.30pm on Saturday.
It’s understood there were no more Jetstar disruptions expected to impact Adelaide travellers after 3.30pm on Saturday or on Sunday in relation to the Airbus issue.
“We’re expecting the remaining (aircraft) to be ready overnight, allowing flights to resume as planned on Sunday,” a spokeswoman said.
“However, there may be some flow on delays or cancellations on Sunday as the network fully recovers. We will contact customers by SMS and email if there are any further disruptions.
“Safety is our number one priority, and we sincerely thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we worked through this issue.”
Virgin said it does “not anticipate any impact to either Virgin Australia or our Regional Airline operations”.
Karmin, 45, was due to catch the 7.15am Jetstar flight from Adelaide to Sydney with her daughter Elisha, to celebrate Elisha’s 18th birthday.
The mum instead spent the morning in a huge queue at Adelaide Airport after the flight was cancelled, before booking an 11.15am Virgin replacement flight.
“It’s been a bit stressful. The main thing is, I just hope Jetstar compensate people for the inconvenience overall,” Ms Van Groesen said.
Elisha, who has 240k followers on social media, shared their experience on Instagram.
“My mum and I were standing there and we were thinking this is like – we’re not gonna get any help,” she told her viewers.
Fortunately, her mum was quick to rebook their flight after finding out the inconvenient news.
“(My mum) went to the Virgin check-in and she asked if they had any extra flights,” she said.
“Luckily they have one boarding soon and there were 10 seats left … (and) there’s five people in my family, including my boyfriend.
“And we’re now booked on that flight.
“Anyway, I’m glad the flights aren’t running because I would not want to be on a plane if it was not working right.”
Sellicks Beach’s Benji Roberts, 17, was due to start a one-week job at Cairns for Coleman Marine on Saturday before his flight out of Adelaide was cancelled.
The Payinthi College student said Jetstar had reimbursed him for a replacement flight leaving on Sunday, but his manager was not pleased he would lose a day’s work.
“I’m not happy because I’m going to be rushed, I don’t have my wetsuit or anything – I’m going to buy that when I get in,” he said.
Cairns residents Renee and Dan, who were in Adelaide for Friday night’s TOOL concert, were due to fly home on Saturday before their flight was cancelled.
The married heavy metal fans could only get a replacement Qantas flight to Cairns on Sunday, requiring them to book another nights’ accommodation in Adelaide.
They were seeking compensation from Jetstar for the debacle, which was also forcing their 18-year-old at home to look after their 11-year-old for an extra night.
On Saturday morning Adelaide Airport’s spokesman confirmed arrivals from Gold Coast, Sydney and Cairns had been cancelled as a result of the issue, along with their subsequent return flights.
“At this stage the Airbus issue is only affecting Jetstar,” he said.
“Travellers should check with their airline for the latest updates.”
The spokesman claimed the cancellation of an Air NZ flight to Christchurch was unrelated despite the plane also being an Airbus A320.
Jetstar said 34 of its 85 Airbus A320/1 aircraft were affected by the issue and about 90 flights across its network had been cancelled, while more had been delayed.
It was working to fix the issue on Saturday, but said more flight disruptions were possible on Sunday.
A Jetstar spokeswoman said its teams were working to “get customers on their way as quickly as possible and are contacting affected customers directly” as the “Airbus fleet software issue (affected) all A320 family operators globally”.
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Originally published as Jetstar flights in and out of Adelaide Airport to return to scheduled after global Airbus A320 warning
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