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A Virgin flight departing Queenstown had to divert to Christchurch on Monday evening, forcing passengers to find their own accommodation.
Some passengers are still stranded in Christchurch and will be unable to return on a Virgin flight to Brisbane until Wednesday.
Virgin Australia has had troubles in Queenstown before.Credit: iStock
Flight VA116 from Queenstown to Brisbane was redirected to Christchurch, where it landed safely on Monday night.
The cause was “an engineering issue”, a Virgin spokesperson said.
One passenger told this masthead that after passengers disembarked, they were moved to the air-bridge to wait as the plane was checked.
When the plane couldn’t be started, they were sent back into the terminal, he said.
“An entire plane load of people had to find their own accommodation and rebook their own way back to Brisbane,” the passenger said.
Virgin has no staff or counter at Christchurch.
Christchurch Airport workers reportedly assisted the passengers.
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A spokesperson for Virgin said: “We are working to safely get everyone to Brisbane as soon as possible, and our guest relations team is in direct contact with impacted guests today to keep them updated.”
Virgin Australia’s passengers are invited to submit claims via the company’s website for compensation. It’s expected that guests will be provided hotel accommodation on Tuesday evening.
“I’ll never fly them internationally again,” the passenger said.
Virgin has had trouble flying from Queenstown before.
In April, passengers from one of its flights were forced to bunk down at Queenstown airport after their flight was cancelled with no replacement options. Passengers returning to Sydney from New Zealand instead had to sleep in the airport after an engineering issue delayed Virgin flight VA162.
More to come
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