Jetstar flight U-turn as plane not approved for Bali entry

MELBOURNE, 28 Dec 2022:

A Jetstar flight from Melbourne, bound for the Indonesian island of Bali, had to turn around today and return to the Australian city due to “miscommunication” over a change in aircraft models.

In a statement, the Australian low-cost airline said that it swapped its usual Airbus A321 for a Boeing 787 because it had more capacity to take tourists to Bali – but “due to an internal miscommunication, we did not have approval from the regulator in Indonesia to swap to the larger aircraft.”

“As soon as we became aware, the flight returned to Melbourne, and we have rebooked passengers on a flight later today.”

It is not clear if the plane turned around when Indonesian controllers denied it permission to land in Bali or if it returned earlier to Melbourne.

“We’ve begun a review to understand how our miscommunication happened so we can prevent it from occurring again,” said Jetstar, which compensated affected travellers with food vouchers, hotel rooms and A$200 travel vouchers.

– EFE