Qantas passengers stranded in Singapore for days after mechanical issues

Hundreds of Qantas passengers will be stranded in Singapore for days after their flight to Sydney was repeatedly delayed, complicated by the earlier damage to another Qantas plane.

And it was not the only Qantas flight disrupted – the QF2 due to leave Singapore at 7.30pm on Wednesday for Sydney was cancelled, and the QF82 from Singapore to Sydney leaving 8.45pm on Wednesday would be delayed four hours, while the QF81 leaving Sydney at 10.20am on Wednesday had been delayed almost six hours.

Recovery options for Singapore passengers have been complicated by the damage to another A380 at the weekend.

A Qantas Airbus A380 at Sydney Airport.Credit: Wolter Peeters

An aerobridge rammed into a Qantas A380 superjumbo engine at Sydney Airport, delaying a long-haul flight to Johannesburg by 21 hours for hundreds of passengers.

A packed QF82 was due to leave Singapore at 8.45pm on Monday and arrive in Sydney at 6.25am on Tuesday, but passengers were told to get off the plane on the tarmac about midnight.

Travellers were told about 2.30am on Tuesday the plane would not depart, and they would be taken to hotels.

A Brisbane man booked on the flight said passengers were told a rescheduled flight would leave at 9am on Wednesday, but that was cancelled, and they would have to wait until Thursday to leave.

“An entire planeload of A380 passengers stranded in Singapore, literally no other options to get home,” he said.

“So many people with kids trying to get them back to school.”

Passengers were advised they would depart Singapore at 12.30am on Thursday – more than two days after their flight was supposed to leave.

A note given to passengers said the A380 they were meant to fly on was still experiencing mechanical issues.

“While our engineers are highly trained to resolve such situations, the problem requires extended maintenance and unfortunately, the aircraft will not be able to operate at the revised departure time of 9am on 16 July,” it read.

“While our engineers continue to work on the original aircraft in Singapore, your flight will now be operated by a replacement aircraft.”

Passengers were offered accommodation and reimbursement of reasonable out-of-pocket expenses such as meals.

“What’s the hold up with QF82 out of Singapore?” Queensland-based Brett Barclay posted on X to Qantas. “Wife and child have been trying to get out since Sunday and still there, reschedule after reschedule.”

Qantas has 10 A380s after leaving two jumbos in Victorville to be broken up into parts, after they were stored in the US aircraft boneyard during the pandemic.

Qantas added a second A380 to its Sydney-Singapore route between June and August to capture more premium travel over the busy winter period.

Despite Airbus ceasing production of the A380 in 2021, Qantas planned to farewell them in 2032.

A spokesperson for the airline said: “We know flight disruptions are frustrating and we sincerely apologise to our customers for their extended delay in Singapore.

“Our team is working hard to get these customers to their destination as quickly as possible.”

A month ago, a Qantas 737-800 aircraft was damaged by an aerobridge at Brisbane Airport, shattering the jet’s front windscreen.

That was the second such incident at Brisbane Airport’s international terminal in as many months, after an Air New Zealand Boeing 777 aircraft struck an air bridge as it was being pushed back on May 22.

Qantas was recently named the world’s 14th best airline at the World Airline Awards, up from its low point in 2024, when it fell to 24th place.

This month Qantas was rated the second safest full-service airline after Air New Zealand, according to Airlineratings.com, in the ranking based on the number of serious incidents over the past two years, fleet age and size, among other criteria.