Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways has apologised to the passengers of a Bangkok-bound flight after a technical issue left them stuck on the plane without air conditioning before they were transferred to another aircraft.
Social media users claimed it was not the first such incident to involve the plane this week. The airline did not address the concerns when asked by the South China Moring Post.
Cathay Pacific said on Thursday night that flight CX705 was originally scheduled to depart from Hong Kong at 8am (7am Thailand time), but was delayed as a result of a technical issue that occurred during boarding and affected the cabin’s air conditioning.
According to accounts online, passengers were forced to wait on board the plane for more than one hour without air conditioning before being swapped to another aircraft.
Cathay stopped short of saying how long passengers were forced to wait on the plane.
“I don’t know if it is the air conditioning or the power systems that have issues. They could not even use the PA system,” one user said.
The Hong Kong Observatory said temperatures in Chek Lap Kok, where the airport is located, were among the highest in the city on Thursday, reaching 35 degrees Celsius.
Cathay said it had arranged a replacement aircraft, which departed from Hong Kong airport at 10.48am on the same day.
Passengers offered eligible customers and those in need of special assistance access to its lounge, while economy class passengers received meal vouchers, it added.
“The safety of our customers and crew guides every decision we make. We sincerely apologise to our affected customers for the inconvenience and appreciate their understanding,” the airline said.
But Cathay did not address the South China Morning Post‘s queries about whether the incident was the third time this week that the same aircraft had experienced technical difficulties.
Another Facebook user said flight CX705 was originally supposed to use a Cathay aircraft with the registration B-LAE, adding that the aircraft had already broken down twice this week before Thursday’s incident.
The social media user said the aircraft was supposed to fly to Urumqi on Monday and Denpasar on Tuesday, but had suffered from mechanical issues.
