shockwave: my sentiments exactly.
JR:
His options were:
1. Auto landing on a Cat I ILS runway.
2. Ditching.
3. Flying around until fuel exhaustion results in a forced (read: crash) landing.
And go to KGI, 300nm away. Emergency port? Probably. But still doable. Unless of course he didn't have the gas to do so (or the WX there was no good).
Perhaps it boiled down to the inconvenience of going to KGI verses the relative danger of doing a zero-vis landing using uncertified equipment. From my seat, any legal alternative has to be used before you start doing unauthorised in-the-fog autolands.
There was a similar incident in the recent past about a CBR non-diversion that had a similar result involving a QF A330 at SYD.
Given the inconvenience of diverting one of these largish aircraft, it is surprising they were not carrying diversion fuel, especially when landing at Perth (the most isolated airport in the world?) in the middle of the night after a flight from Singas.
Edit: I meant "the inconvenience of diverting one of these largish aircraft to a non-normal port such as KGI..."