Jetstar flight bound for Melbourne makes emergency landing in Alice Springs, confining passengers for 14 hours

Hundreds of passengers on a Jetstar flight travelling from Bangkok to Melbourne spent 14 hours on the plane after it was forced to divert to Alice Springs due to a medical emergency.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 320 passengers had to make a detour to Alice Springs on Sunday after a passenger experienced a medical emergency and was in need of urgent care.

The Alice Springs airport does not have customs processing facilities so border agencies, NT Police and the local airport authority helped passengers disembark after 14 hours confined in the cabin into a designated section of the airport.

They were then transferred directly onto a replacement plane after an electrical issue was discovered in the original aircraft

“As a result, we organised a second aircraft to fly to Alice Springs this afternoon to get passengers on their way as fast as possible,” Jetstar’s head of corporate affairs Ingrid Just said.

“We worked with the local airport to provide passengers with food, drinks and snacks.

“We appreciate this has been a lengthy delay and frustrating experience.”

“Safety is always our first priority, and we thank passengers for their patience and understanding as we supported the passenger requiring urgent medical assistance and worked to get everyone else on their way as quickly as possible.

Checked-in baggage will be reunited with passengers when the Boeing 787 returns to Melbourne on Monday.

Alice Springs Airport does not have equipment to unload bags from the aircraft.