The good news is that according to Flight Stats flights now appear to be back in the air - hopefully any backlog has been cleared.
10 Oct 2012 - NT News - CONOR BYRNE
DARWIN- bound passengers were stranded in The Philippines for nearly three days after cancellation of four Jetstar flights in a row.
Last night, the airline would only say the ongoing delays were caused by ‘‘operational requirements’’.
Two JQ79 flights failed to leave Darwin for Manila at 3.15am on Saturday and Monday. As a result, the return flights, JQ78, expected to leave at 10.55pm on the same days were also cancelled by Jetstar.
Darwin business consultant Keith John Norris was stranded in Manila since Saturday following a business conference.
He said he had been told at the airport to return on Monday night after the Saturday flight was cancelled.
But he said the second A320 plane never arrived.
‘‘Us local business people have been abandoned in Manila again by Jetstar,’’ he said. ‘‘There has been no assistance by the airline to cover the additional costs incurred by our group.
‘‘As local business people, this affects our business affairs in the NT.’’
Jetstar, meanwhile, said a flight had left Manila for Darwin last night.
But spokeswoman Emma Kearns said she was unsure how many passengers were affected by the delays.
She said Jetstar had accommodated the stranded passengers in a hotel.
Ms Kearns said the next scheduled flight from Darwin to Manila, on Friday, would operate as usual.
Another passenger, who refused to be named, said he was told the problem was ‘‘maintenance issues’’.
‘‘Jetstar is keeping passengers in the dark on what the situation actually is,’’ the passenger said.
‘‘There is a heap of Darwinites stranded here with me and other Aussies trying to get connecting flights from Darwin to other parts of Oz.’’