SilkAir jet grounded for almost 20 hours

A SILKAIR flight bound for Singapore was delayed by nearly 20 hours at Cairns International Airport due to an engine failure.

SilkAir flight M1814 was due to depart the airport at 6.15pm on Sunday, but did not manage to become airborne until after 2pm yesterday.

Passengers boarded the Boeing 737-800 aircraft late Sunday afternoon, before it remained on the tarmac for several hours.

They were then informed there was an issue with the aircraft, and the flight had been rescheduled for yesterday.

One passenger, who was bound for France, told the Cairns Post there had been massive queues at the SilkAir check-in counter for passengers trying to rebook their international connecting flights.

“Apparently we have the same flight as yesterday (Sunday) now, plus an extra four hours in Singapore,” he said.

“Though, at this rate, we will be lucky to even make the connection.

“They booked us on the same connecting flights, which means that instead of having two hours in Singapore, we now have more than six hours.”

A SilkAir spokesman said flight MI814 had been delayed due to an issue with one of the aircraft engines.

“Customers scheduled to travel on MI814 on September 1 were accommodated overnight and have had all connecting flights rescheduled,” he said

“A replacement part for the engine was flown in today on flight MI811, and was used to resolve the engineering issue.

“The aircraft was cleared to depart Cairns at 14:20 local time on Monday as flight MI9814.

“We apologise for the inconvenience caused.”