Malacca-Singapore Scoot flight cancelled after 9-hour delay
A one-hour Scoot flight from Malacca to Singapore was delayed for nine hours and later cancelled, causing unhappiness among passengers who had spent the whole night waiting to take off.
The affected Scoot flight TR403 was originally scheduled to depart Malacca at 10.15pm on Jan 10 and arrive in Singapore at 11.10pm.
Passenger Lin told 8World he had bought tickets for his wife, colleague and child as he had an event to attend on Jan 11.
Unexpectedly, when it was the scheduled departure time, the plane was nowhere to be found. Turns out the previous flight was delayed due to weather conditions, which Mr Lin said was understandable.
The plane finally arrived at around 11pm but passengers were still not allowed to check in even after an hour.
“I saw technicians standing next to the plane looking at the engines, so I went over to ask what was the problem and was told it was because of the weather.”
At about 1am, Scoot staff started distributing mineral water and bread to passengers, but still did not allow them to board the plane.
“Many passengers kept asking them what the problem was but the staff kept saying it was due to the weather.”
It was only at 2.30am when the staff finally allowed passengers to board the plane, and Mr Lin fell asleep immediately when he got in his seat. However when he woke up half an hour later, the plane had not taken off yet.
The captain made announced that he could not start the engine and the plane had to return to the hangar, so everyone had to disembark.
Mr Lin packed his family and colleague into a car and they drove to Johor Bahru before getting on a bus to Singapore. They reached Singapore at 10am.
At 12.40pm, Mr Lin received a message from Scoot, instructing him to go to the Scoot counter in Malacca at 1.30pm for the bus to Singapore.
A bus ride from Malacca to Singapore takes around 4 hours depending on traffic conditions.
A Scoot spokesperson said that the incident was caused by a problem with the fuel tanker at the Malacca airport and the flight was cancelled as the aircraft could not refuel.
Scoot had provided accommodation and meals to affected passengers and arranged alternative transportation to Singapore at 2pm on Jan 11.
This is the second bad delay of a Scoot flight in less than a month.
On Dec 28, Scoot flight TR469 from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore turned what should have been a one hour flight into a 22-hour ordeal for the passengers.
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