What should have been a routine Wednesday night arrival in Seoul turned into a surreal detour for passengers on AirAsia Flight D7 506 from Kuala Lumpur. The plane was scheduled to touch down at Incheon International Airport at 7.50 p.m. local time (6.50 p.m. in Singapore) on August 13. Instead, it landed at Gimpo International Airport at 8.08 p.m., more than 30 kilometers away, after circling in the air.
Image Credits: flightaware.com
At first, there was no sign that anything was amiss. The captain announced their arrival at Incheon, prompting passengers to stand and reach for their bags. It was only when some glanced out of the windows or checked their phones that the realization set in. They were in Gimpo, not Incheon. “Everyone panicked,” one passenger told The Korea Herald. “It seemed the cabin crew didn’t know we had landed at Gimpo until passengers told them.”
AirAsia later explained that poor weather over Incheon had caused turbulence and air traffic congestion, forcing the diversion. The aircraft remained at Gimpo for nearly two hours before departing again at 10.17 p.m. and finally arriving at Incheon at 10.59 p.m.
Image Credits: flightaware.com
For many on board, the delay was not the issue. It was the silence. “During the two hours before we departed for Incheon again, there was no clear explanation of what caused the landing or any effort to reassure passengers,” said Ryu, 39, who was travelling that night.
In a statement issued the next day, AirAsia X said the captain had kept passengers informed in English, but admitted there had been a miscommunication in the cabin crew’s landing announcement. Chief executive Benyamin Ismail promised to review the airline’s onboard communication protocols to ensure greater clarity in the future, and offered travel vouchers as a goodwill gesture.
Image Credits: unsplash.com
Diversions are part of the job in aviation. In the sky, as in business, turbulence is unavoidable. However, passengers want to be kept informed when flight plan changes occur. How you communicate in those moments can define your brand long after the landing gear touches down.
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