Mid-air medical emergency forces Qantas flight full of Aussies to make drastic landing in Azerbaijan, leaving passengers outraged and isolated

Sky News AU

21 hours ago

Hundreds of Aussies have had their holiday plans torpedoed after being forced to spend more than a day in the Azerbaijan capital of Baku due to a Qantas A380 flight experiencing a sudden mid-air medical emergency.
A passenger on board the 'relatively full' plane suffered a life-threatening cardiac emergency mid-flight, leaving hundreds of home bound Aussies stuck.
The aircraft touched down safely at 7:55am local time at Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku, Azerbaijan, with Australian doctor Hamish Urquhart who was on board at the time confirming the passenger who suffered the major cardiac event was a women aged in her 60s.
"The lady was really quite unwell and needed intravenous access while we were trying to land, which was a bit challenging," Dr Urquhart said.
Dr Urquhart said the pilot had to make a 'dramatic 180-degree turn' to reach Baku' and that 'in the air, it was a bit stressful as we were flying towards Afghanistan'.
It is understood the women who suffered the unexpected cardiac arrest on the flight is okay and recovering.
The decision to make passengers wait a day in Azerbaijan was due to the operating crew reaching their duty limit and being 'out of hours'.
Passengers discovered upon arrival that Azerbaijan was in the midst of a public holiday, which served as a logistical nightmare in organising visas for as many as 500 people in addition to securing overnight accommodation.
The plane was also due to receive routine maintenance checks in Singapore, with the checks now brought forward to happen in Baku further compounding the lengthy delays.
Numerous passengers took to social media to slam Qantas for its handling of the situation, with some stating they were initially told by the captain that the flight had to make the surprise landing due to an engine fault.
A Qantas spokesperson told SkyNews.com.au that the aircraft faced no mechanical complications and condemned multiple mastheads for incorrectly reporting that the flight had made an 'emergency landing'.
'Please note, some media outlets are incorrectly referring to this diversion as an emergency landing, I just want to reiterate there was no emergency landing. It was a normal landing as part of a planned diversion,' the statement read.
The spokesperson also said Qantas' first priority was the safety of it's passengers, and apologised for any inconvenience caused to its customers.
'We apologise to customers for the disruption and are working to get them on their way to Singapore as soon as possible," they said.
'All customers will be provided with overnight accommodation, and the flight is expected to depart for Singapore tomorrow, Tuesday 10 June'.
Despite the aircraft being mechanically sound, an engineer was flown from London to inspect the plane and certify it before departure.
It is understood some passengers who approached airport staff in the hope of securing an earlier flight were told that this was only possible if they provided a payment of cash or cryptocurrency.
Nine's Europe correspondent Hannah Sinclar who was on the board the flight travelling home for her wedding blasted Qantas for the debacle on X.
'There's been no help getting a different flight and airport staff are asking for us to pay for new flights in crypto or cash only. Not ok,' the post read.
However, Qantas firmly rejected reports that passengers were asked to pay for replacement flights with cryptocurrency, and that the workers demanding crypto payments were not Qantas employees.
Another passenger Nick Phillips told the ABC that Qantas' management of the unforeseen diversion was shambolic and that passengers were left in the dark for hours.
"It took five hours to exit the plane, then three hours to wait for a visa to come through, and finally a two-hour trip to a hotel with frequent stops as the guide called someone, evidently totally unsure where to take us," he said.
Passengers are set to depart Azerbaijan at 4.30pm Tuesday local time, or 10.30pm AEST.