Qantas Sydney to Manila, Philippines flight makes U-turn amid airport chaos ... trends now
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Passengers on a Qantas plane from Sydney to the Philippines endured a nightmare eight-hour flight to nowhere after a power cut at Manila Airport forced it to turn around.
The Airbus 330 had to return to Sydney on Sunday night following the mid-flight U-turn just as it passed west of the tip of Cape York in far north Queensland.
It had to trek back down the east coast of Australia after the Philippines' capital city airport was hit by a power cut which blacked out air traffic control, shutting down airspace.
Passengers on a Qantas plane from Sydney to the Philippines endured a nightmare eight-hour flight to nowhere after Manila Airport shut down while it was in mid-air
The Filipino capital's airport was hit by a power cut which blacked out air traffic control, shutting down airspace
The QF19 flight to Ninoy Aquino International Airport had left Sydney at 12.30pm on New Year's Day but touched down, right back where it started, at 7.50pm.
Qantas chiefs feared the plane could have run out of fuel if they flew on to Manila and were forced to circle for hours while technicians battled to restore the power.
It was one of almost 300 flights diverted, and by mid-afternoon on New Year's Day, the normally busy airspace over the
