“…..suggests that something has gone very wrong here.”
Yep, it has. But don’t for a second think that it couldn’t happen to your full service airline. In China, you bet.
“The ground staff should take over responsibility for pax once the aircraft is on the ground.”
They should. And in China mostly they do. But when it turns pear shaped, really pear shaped . . . they wont. The staff were probably there, as directed by the boss who took the call from Qantas. But they won’t assist. They don’t know how to, they are not trained to and last week they were selling iphones, next week maybe insurance. More importantly, they care just enough to ensure they do not get fired at the end of the day but not enough to care about you and your pax.
“The aircrew should NOT be responsible - they need to go get minimum rest….”
Yep, true. Idealistic yet completely unrealistic for what will actually happen in China.
If PEK was closed for fog then the amount of traffic backed up in PVG/SHA etc would create chaos. Any non-PRC carrier will be last, no deice for hours if needed, no aerobridge to deplane pax for half a day. No assistance from police despite giving a mayday call. This happens, I have been involved and it will happen no matter how many “standing procedures” you have in place.
The bottom line is had this been a Qantas jet, the SAME THING COULD EASILY HAVE HAPPENED.
It is a crappy place to be when the wheels fall off the wagon and it is getting worse rapidly.