what happens when an aircraft diverts?
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Ireland
Posts: 119
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
what happens when an aircraft diverts?
Hi, I am a student dtudying transport technology in college.
One senario that has been put to my class by one of our ops lecturers is:
A 777 flying from main land europe to the west coast USA.
Half way across the atlantic, the PIC decides to divert to Rekjavick, Iceland due to a fuel feed problems with the port engine.
The aircraft lands uneventfully in Iceland.
Now there is a u/s 777 on the ground in Iceland along with 300 passengers that are supposed to be in LA. There is a further 300 passengers now arriving in LA airport expecting an aircraft waiting there to fly them back to Europe.
There is now a crew out of hours in Iceland, another crew ready to fly in LA with no aircraft. There is no handling agents for the airline in Iceland, no maintenance there for the a/c either......
The airline ops section now has this major problem on their hands, what do they do??
Baisically if someone that deals with these situations is reading this post I would be intruged at how a problem like this is dealt with... how are hotels arranged, compensation for passengers, getting the aircraft flying again, getting the passengers to LA, etc etc etc... Also how are visas dealth with... can all passengers leave the airport.... all the problems etc..
I am really intrested in the thought process an airline puts into dealing with a situation like this, costs involved.... mabye even an example or too.
I really apologise for any grammer or spelling mistakes in my post, as I don't have time to re-read this post right now!
Thanks again for any advise/information here.
G747
One senario that has been put to my class by one of our ops lecturers is:
A 777 flying from main land europe to the west coast USA.
Half way across the atlantic, the PIC decides to divert to Rekjavick, Iceland due to a fuel feed problems with the port engine.
The aircraft lands uneventfully in Iceland.
Now there is a u/s 777 on the ground in Iceland along with 300 passengers that are supposed to be in LA. There is a further 300 passengers now arriving in LA airport expecting an aircraft waiting there to fly them back to Europe.
There is now a crew out of hours in Iceland, another crew ready to fly in LA with no aircraft. There is no handling agents for the airline in Iceland, no maintenance there for the a/c either......
The airline ops section now has this major problem on their hands, what do they do??
Baisically if someone that deals with these situations is reading this post I would be intruged at how a problem like this is dealt with... how are hotels arranged, compensation for passengers, getting the aircraft flying again, getting the passengers to LA, etc etc etc... Also how are visas dealth with... can all passengers leave the airport.... all the problems etc..
I am really intrested in the thought process an airline puts into dealing with a situation like this, costs involved.... mabye even an example or too.
I really apologise for any grammer or spelling mistakes in my post, as I don't have time to re-read this post right now!
Thanks again for any advise/information here.
G747
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: EU
Age: 43
Posts: 364
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
1: Dealing with passengers in LA.
- The airline would most likely board these passengers on other flights going to the same destination but at a later time if they have seats left over on those flights. If that doesnt clear up the mess they would lease and aircraft from another airline or convert the tickets to other airlines flying to the same destination IF these other airlines are part of the same group like for example Star Alliance (SAS, Lufthansa etc).
2: The PAX in Iceland would have to sit an freeze on that island for a while until the airline could lease another aircraft to go to Iceland to pick them up. OR they might be booked on flights going from Iceland to LA with other airlines.
3: the U/S aircraft on iceland could if the state of registry gives it's approval be flown to the nearest airport where it can be repaired. If this is not possible, a team of mechanics would have to fly to Iceland with spare parts to repair the aircraft on location.
Hope this is some help...
Kind Regards
Tim
- The airline would most likely board these passengers on other flights going to the same destination but at a later time if they have seats left over on those flights. If that doesnt clear up the mess they would lease and aircraft from another airline or convert the tickets to other airlines flying to the same destination IF these other airlines are part of the same group like for example Star Alliance (SAS, Lufthansa etc).
2: The PAX in Iceland would have to sit an freeze on that island for a while until the airline could lease another aircraft to go to Iceland to pick them up. OR they might be booked on flights going from Iceland to LA with other airlines.
3: the U/S aircraft on iceland could if the state of registry gives it's approval be flown to the nearest airport where it can be repaired. If this is not possible, a team of mechanics would have to fly to Iceland with spare parts to repair the aircraft on location.
Hope this is some help...
Kind Regards
Tim
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Cloud 9
Posts: 2,948
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If the PIC decides to try to put a 777 down in Reykavik then he's got more of a problem than worrying about 300 pax not reaching their destination 
Suggest Keflavik might be a more suitable diversion airport for a 777.
Kind Regards
Phileas
Suggest Keflavik might be a more suitable diversion airport for a 777.
Kind Regards
Phileas
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: someplace else
Posts: 75
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
by the way: KEF would be 1st choice, but if there is only tech trouble but no emergency the operations controller on duty makes the decision and not the pic!
Thats pretty logical because the pic doesnt know anything about the further transpo, available crews, and all that stuff...
Thats pretty logical because the pic doesnt know anything about the further transpo, available crews, and all that stuff...
