Passengers touring on yesterday’s Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco had fairly the journey, they usually didn’t even make it to their meant vacation spot. I’m piecing collectively particulars finest I can, so right here’s my understanding of what occurred (and if I received any particulars mistaken, please let me know)…
Cathay Pacific A350 diverts to Oakland
This incident occurred on Sunday, February 4, 2024, and includes Cathay Pacific flight CX870 from Hong Kong (HKG) to San Francisco (SFO). The flight was operated by a seven-year-old Airbus A350-900 with the license plate B-LRI.
On this 6,927-mile flight, the jet was purported to depart at 1:25PM, and land at 9:45AM the identical day, after a 12hr20min journey. The flight was fully routine, till it approached San Francisco. The climate circumstances in San Francisco have been terrible yesterday, with gusty winds that impacted operations on the airport.
Because the jet approached San Francisco, it needed to enter a holding sample as a result of climate on the airport. The aircraft ended up staying in a holding sample for fairly a while. Finally the pilots made the choice to divert to Oakland (OAK), presumably as a result of they solely had a lot gasoline left, and circumstances weren’t enhancing. The aircraft landed there at 10:05AM native time, 20 minutes after its scheduled arrival in San Francisco.
Cathay Pacific A350 then diverts to Los Angeles
Oakland isn’t that removed from San Francisco, so in principle you’d suppose the airline would simply let passengers off there, and organize floor transportation. Nonetheless, the logistics are extra sophisticated than that:
- Oakland Airport’s immigration facility is barely open for choose hours (I’m unsure if it was open when the aircraft landed)
- The logistics of deplaning lots of of passengers at an airport not usually served by that airline are very sophisticated
- It doesn’t matter what, Cathay Pacific wanted to reposition its plane to San Francisco, previous to working the return flight to Hong Kong
The choice was made to refuel, maintain passengers on the plane, after which fly to San Francisco when circumstances improved. In the long run, the aircraft spent about 4 hours on the bottom, and at 2:10PM it lastly took off, making ready to function the brief 11-mile journey throughout the bay.
Aspect notice — it sounds to me like Cathay Pacific could have been violating america’ tarmac delay guidelines, except passengers got the choice to get off the plane.
Anyway, as quickly because the plane took off from Oakland, there was dangerous information, as San Francisco closed again down as a result of climate circumstances. So whereas the pilots circled for a bit, they knew they wanted a brand new plan.
Slightly than diverting again to Oakland, at this level the choice was made to divert to Los Angeles (LAX). The aircraft landed there round 90 minutes after it took off, at 3:40PM. So at this level the flight was round six hours not on time, and 337 miles from its meant vacation spot.
It’s not fully clear why the choice was made to divert to Los Angeles fairly than returning to Oakland:
- Had circumstances deteriorated in Oakland as effectively, or was the immigration facility not open?
- Did the airline resolve it was simply logistically simpler to fly everybody to a different Cathay Pacific station with frequent service, fairly than to an airport the airline doesn’t ordinarily serve? That manner the airline would have its personal workers to assist passengers, and everybody may simply be rebooked on a flight to San Francisco
Cathay Pacific A350 nonetheless on floor in Los Angeles
As you’d count on, the meant return flight from San Francisco to Hong Kong, CX879, ended up being canceled. As of the time of this submit, the A350 continues to be on the bottom in Los Angeles.
Presumably that partly comes all the way down to pilot relaxation necessities, as this crew wasn’t able to fly this plane even additional, with out some relaxation interval. Lately, Cathay Pacific has closed its pilot bases in america, and this is without doubt one of the downsides of not having reserve pilots at an outstation.
It stays to be seen if the airline simply finally flies this aircraft again to Hong Kong empty, or if it flies it to San Francisco, after which carries passengers from the canceled flights.
The logistics right here positive are sophisticated, because you’re not solely coping with climate, but in addition with contractual limitations for obligation hours. I’m unsure if Cathay Pacific’s pilot contract would even permit pilots to reposition the aircraft to San Francisco, after which instantly function an extremely lengthy haul flight from there. Relations between pilots and administration on the airline are additionally not nice proper now, so I can’t think about pilots can be trying to do any favors.
Backside line
A Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco first diverted to Oakland, after which to Los Angeles. This sadly comes all the way down to a really dangerous climate day in San Francisco, although that’s exacerbated by the complexities of airline operations, particularly at outstations. I’m curious to see the place the Cathay Pacific A350 flies subsequent…
What do you make of this Cathay Pacific double diversion?
