What was supposed to be a routine 10-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Gold Coast turned into a 18-hour flight with failed multiple landings, ending with passengers demanding to be allowed to disembark at nearby Brisbane airport.

Bad visibility this morning forced the AirAsia flight to abort its attempts to land at the Coolangatta airport in Gold Coast, and was instead diverted to Brisbane, about 80km north of the resort town.

However, the passengers were not allowed to disembark and after refueling, the plane took off and attempted to land at Coolangatta.

After a number of attempts, the airplane was asked to return to Brisbane airport.

According to Raymond Choong, who was on board of the plane, the passengers were not allowed to disembark despite having been in the aircraft for over 18 hours.

“There were children who were throwing up, and some people were unwell. I can’t understand why we were not allowed to leave the plane.”

Irate passengers

According to eyewitnesses, there was a stand-off between the irate passengers and the flight crew.

Eventually, the passengers who wished to disembark were allowed to do so. They were asked to proceed to Coolangatta airport by land to pick up their luggage there.

AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said the incident was unfortunate and other airlines arriving in Gold Coast this morning also faced similar conditions.

“The safety of the passengers is paramount. We had little choice but to follow the instructions of the air traffic controllers,” he said.

He added that the initial decision not to allow the passengers to disembark at Brisbane was beyond AirAsia’s control.

“We have to follow the instructions from the Australian authorities.”