Tigerair plane delayed 4 hours after diversion to Batam

SINGAPORE — A Singapore-bound Tigerair flight from Hong Kong arrived four hours later than scheduled yesterday, after bad weather forced it to be diverted to Batam first.

Flight TR2067 was supposed to land at 10.30pm on Saturday, but encountered inclement weather and wind shear — a rapid change of wind speed and direction over short distances.

“After making two landing attempts, the flight was diverted to Batam to refuel and await better landing conditions,” said Tigerair in a statement.

Air traffic tracker Flightradar24 listed the A320 as having landed in Batam at 11.36pm on Saturday. The flight touched down in Singapore at 2.41am yesterday, a check on Changi Airport’s website showed.

Ms Serena Ng, whose mother was on that flight, said the latter had heard “loud vibrating sounds from the engine” and thunder.

But Tigerair explained that “the loud engine noise heard by passengers was due to the plane making a go-around, which involved the powering up of the aircraft engine, which was operating optimally”.

“At no point was the safety of our crew and passengers compromised,” the airline added.

Mr Sim Leong Chin, who had waited for his friend at Terminal 2 since 10.30pm, said he did not find the delay out of the ordinary, although he had received no information of the plane’s whereabouts until close to midnight, when a staff at the airport said the delay was due to bad weather.

Another woman whose daughter was on the flight said she became worried when its status changed from “confirmed” at around 10.30pm to “ask airline”. CHANNEL NEWSASIA