Passengers stuck on Qantas A380

Passenger supplied

NIGHTMARE FLIGHT: A photo provided by a passenger on board the delayed A380 shows additional catering being loaded.

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Qantas passengers were stuck on board an A380 for more than five hours at Melbourne Airport today before the flight was eventually postponed till later this morning.

The Airbus superjumbo carrying 450 passengers cancelled its take-off earlier yesterday due to a problem with its fuel gauges.

"There was an initial delay of one hour and 30 (minutes), while the engineers rectified the issue," a Qantas spokesman said.

"The issue recurred so the aircraft returned to the terminal."

The spokesman said the plane did not abort take-off.

Passengers were told that could not disembark because of the heightened security procedures for flights going to the US. They were told it was not feasible to disembark 450 passengers and re-screen them for a second time.

The delay stretched so long that the flight was no longer be able to take off due to the crew exceeding their permitted on-duty hours. The passengers are now scheduled to fly to Los Angeles tomorrow at 11am.

One passenger said travellers were "very unhappy" at being stuck in the plane for hours and that onward travel plans were now in disarray.

Passengers were told they would have to pass through customs after disembarking, further adding to the inconvenience.

Qantas said refreshments were served to passengers during the delay and that in-flight entertainment was available. The Qantas spokesman said overnight hotel accommodation would be provided to passengers who required it.

"We sincerely regret any inconvenience that this has caused and we're doing everything we can to look after customers tonight," the spokesman said.

Last month the US Federal Government introduced new regulations that ordered airlines to allow passengers to disembark after three hours if a flight was delayed on the tarmac

- © Fairfax NZ News