Qantas has sent a recovery flight to the eastern European nation of Azerbaijan to retrieve passengers stranded in Baku after an earlier flight made an emergency landing smoke alarms were triggered in the cargo hold.
The original flight en route to London from Singapore landed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport at approximately 2.15pm AEDT on Friday. Upon landing, the aircraft was met by fire and rescue teams to assess the issue.
The recovery flight QFA6025, operated by an Airbus A380, left Sydney at 11:40am AEDT on Saturday and is scheduled to land in Baku at 21:10 +4 local time (04:10 AEDT) after flying non-stop for 16 hours and 31 minutes.
It will pick up 356 stranded passengers and arrive at Heathrow early on Christmas morning, according to a statement Qantas released on Saturday afternoon.
The average flight duration from Baku, Azerbaijan to London, United Kingdom is approximately 5 hours.
Engineers are also on their way to Azerbaijan to inspect the original aircraft. Qantas has thanked the Australian government and foreign governments for processing the necessary flight path approvals for the recovery flight.
Passengers have expressed frustration at the unexpected delay, but Qantas has assured them that they are doing everything they can to get them to their destination as soon as possible.
Qantas says it has made arrangements for the stranded passengers to stay at the Marriott Hotel while they wait for their recovery plane to arrive.
The airline has emphasized that safety is their top priority, and that they are working to minimize the disruption for their customers.
