Five hundred Emirates passengers spent the night on the floor at Japan’s largest international airport, Narita, which serves Tokyo.
They were supposed to fly to Dubai on an Airbus A380 of the Emirates airline on December 23 at 10:30 p.m., but due to a technical problem, the flight was delayed.
When the situation was resolved, at 11:45 p.m. the plane took off for the runway, but after halfway, it turned back to the terminal.
The pilots did not have time to take off until midnight when Narita Airport officially closes. Already in the parking lot, the crew fed passengers and then began to let travelers into the airport building.
Instead of a hotel, passengers were given sleeping bags to make sleeping on the floor more comfortable. They were also given water and cookies. Emirates has postponed the departure of the flight to 15:00 on December 24.
“Passengers were made to wait in the cabin of the plane for 4 hours without explanation. After that, they were given only sleeping bags and told to wait for further instructions. From the status of “hostage” to the status of “refugee”, Anastasia, a passenger on the flight, commented on the events on Twitter.
The situation is unusual in that Emirates is positioned as a traditional airline. Such air carriers usually advertise high service and accommodate passengers in hotels in case of long delays.
Airport curfew
Narita Airport has strict restrictions on night operations. It cannot receive and send flights from 00:00 to 06:00.
Such restrictions are in place so as not to disturb people living nearby.
The very history of Narita’s construction has a trail of scandals. Residents were against the appearance of a resort in the neighborhood, and the government had to expropriate land plots forcibly.
Some farmers managed to assert their right to the land, which blocked the development of Narita.
Currently, one of the two runways of the Japanese capital airport has a shorter length than the project envisaged – only 2.5 km. A farm is located on the site where an additional section of the lane was supposed to pass.