Hundreds stranded after budget airline Scoot hit by flight delays

SINGAPORE: Budget airline Scoot has been hit by another string of flight delays.

The latest comes less than two weeks after a similar situation was triggered by technical reasons.

Hundreds of passengers have been affected and more delays are expected on Saturday.

At Changi Airport on Friday morning, a flight bound for Qingdao and Shenyang, China, was due to take off at 1.30am.

But it turned out to be a nearly 15—hour wait, before the flight left at about 4.30pm.

More than 400 affected passengers were given meal vouchers.

Scoot said the aircraft was on scheduled maintenance and could not be released on time.

More delays were triggered after another aircraft fell behind schedule due to adverse weather conditions in Tianjin, China, on Thursday.

Departure times for flights between Singapore and Bangkok and Gold Coast to Singapore on Friday have also been pushed back.

Those travelling between Singapore and Tianjin on Saturday will also face delays.

Scoot said it has notified all passengers via email on the revised flight timings.

Passengers who encounter flight delays of more than four hours — other than those triggered by the weather — will be given $50 vouchers.

Some passengers bound for Bangkok, who experienced a four—hour delay, wished they had been better informed.

"I have to rearrange the time all over again, because they changed the time to 9.40pm and now I will arrive, according to them, about 11pm. I think it will be a better choice for them to email us or give us a call," said one frustrated passenger.

— CNA/de