SIA passenger recounts 20-hour delay after air traffic control glitch at major British airports

SINGAPORE – Singaporean Aria Maish Nichani was supposed to land in London at 3.20pm on Sept 8 and settle into her new home for the next year as she pursues a master’s degree in curating at the Courtauld Institute of Art.

What she did not expect was for her journey from Singapore to London to include air, land and sea travel after a technical glitch affecting air traffic control services at major British airports extended her travel by more than 20 hours.

The 23-year-old was on one of two Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights that were diverted due to the technical glitch.

Two other SIA flights scheduled to depart London Heathrow for Singapore on Sept 8 were cancelled.

Aria’s flight, SQ308, which had 401 passengers and 29 crew members on board, was diverted to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, according to an SIA spokesperson.

From there, they were to take a ferry from Calais to Dover in England, before arriving in London, Aria told The Straits Times.

Recounting her experience, Aria said that she landed in Paris at about 7pm on Sept 8.

She and the other passengers waited on board the aircraft for two hours before going through Paris immigration, she said.

In a reply on Sept 10 to ST queries, SIA said customers were given food packs shortly before disembarking from the aircraft.

Ground transport was arranged for passengers who were able to enter France to continue their journey to London, a spokesperson for the airline said.

Seven buses were arranged, with the first departing Charles de Gaulle Airport at about 9.40pm local time on Sept 8, and the last at about 1am local time on Sept 9, said SIA.

It added that the buses were initially scheduled to travel to Britain using the Channel Tunnel.

However, some of the later buses were unable to use their allocated crossing slots.

“This was because with multiple diverted flights arriving in Paris, crossing availability was limited and ground-transport arrangements had to be adjusted as the situation evolved,” SIA said.

The carrier added that its staff arranged alternative travel for affected customers to travel from Calais to Dover by ferry before continuing by bus to London Victoria station.

At 12.30am on Sept 9, Aria boarded a bus that would take the passengers to the ferry terminal in Calais, a two-hour ride away.

She said that at the ferry terminal, passengers were told there was no ferry booked for them, so they had to wait till a ferry arrived.

The ferry, with the buses on board, finally left Calais at 10.30am and took 90 minutes to reach Dover, said Aria.

Passengers of the flight disembarked at Dover in England before continuing their journey to London on the same bus for another two hours, Aria said.

The stress of the delays, long waits and uncertainty was compounded by the lack of information, she added.

“I’m just frustrated with the fact that we were left in the dark for so many hours throughout the whole ordeal,” Aria said.

“All this time with very little food and water provided,” she added.

In London, the bus dropped the passengers off at Victoria rail station. “We are just relieved we finally arrived, and safely too,” said Aria.

SIA said its personnel were deployed at London Victoria station to receive customers as they arrived and provide assistance where needed.

In its reply, SIA apologised to customers who were on board Flight SQ308 on Sept 8.

“SIA recognises that, as arrangements evolved, some customers may not have received information as promptly as they would have expected,” it said.

“We are reviewing how we can further improve our support and communications during such disruptions.”

The other SIA flight that was diverted, SQ318, flew to Munich Airport in Germany and landed at 8.09pm local time. There were 203 passengers and 19 crew members on board.

Britain’s National Air Traffic Services said the issue had impacted its flight data processing system, resulting in thousands of flight disruptions across the country on Sept 8.

Travellers continued to face chaos at airports across Britain for a second day, with nearly 300 flights scrapped on Sept 9 due to the glitch.

This was in addition to the more than 1,300 cancellations to and from British airports on Sept 8.