Cebu Pacific Diverts A330 Flight to India, Passengers Stranded for 3 Days

A Cebu Pacific flight bound for Manila from Dubai was diverted to Chhtrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai, India at 10:40am on June 29 due to a “technical requirement” of the assigned 436-seat Airbus A330 aircraft. Flight 5J 015 was carrying 347 passengers on board when it landed safely in Mumbai.

Copyright Photo: Angelo Agcamaran/PPSG

Passengers were given special entry permits to India as they were required to stay in Mumbai while their transfers were finalised by the airline. The affected passengers were given accommodation, meals, and transfers, while travel desks were setup at their hotels.

In a statement released on Friday evening, Cebu Pacific reported that 252 passengers had been assigned to Manila bound flights operated by other carriers and that the passengers were expected to arrive early on Saturday morning. Passengers were stranded in India for as many as three days due to the incident.

According to Cebu Pacific, the remaining passengers are being reserved on the "soonest available flights" to Manila. Although the Philippine budget carrier has not given any official explanation as to what happened to the aircraft, they issued a formal apology to all passengers. Reports from passengers that have surfaced online suggest that the incident resulted from engine-trouble or even a possible engine-fire.

"We regret the inconvenience this has caused our passengers and hope for their understanding since our priority is their safety," stated the carrier in a Cebu Pacific Advisory. The carrier admitted that the 347 affected passengers "unfortunately had to wait inside the plane while their special entry permits were being worked out."

-travelling_bk

References: Cebu Pacific, Inquirer