Qantas’ week has gone from bad to worse after another plane was forced to land with a mechanical issue.
Flight QF1608 from Perth to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia was forced to circle over Perth before coming back in to land with a “minor issue”.
The Fokker 100 aircraft – which can carry up to 100 passengers – took off at 3.50pm but had already touched down again in Perth by 4.40pm.
Qantas said the plane suffered a “minor mechanical issue”. The hour-long flight ended up being delayed by three hours.
QF1608 is the seventh Qantas plane in just over a week to encounter issues.
Flight QF887 was heading from Adelaide to Perth and was reportedly 45 minutes into its journey on Monday when it was forced to turn around following issues surrounding paperwork.
There were no technical issues with the aircraft.
It is understood that once paperwork was finalised after engineering sign-off in Adelaide, the flight departed Adelaide for Perth and landed four hours after the scheduled arrival time.
On January 18, a Qantas 737 aircraft travelling from Auckland to Sydney issued a mayday call that was later downgraded to a PAN (possible assistance needed) following an engine failure as it was across the Tasman Sea.
The plane, which had 145 passengers on-board, was able to land safely in Sydney.
The following day on January 19, a Boeing 737 bound for Nadi returned to Sydney after an on-board “fault indicator” about a possible mechanical issue. Flight QF10 was on its way to Fiji when it turned around and landed back in Sydney before 11am.
A Qantas spokesperson said the flight returned to Sydney Airport as a precaution after “pilots received a fault indicator about a potential mechanical issue”.
Engineers are examining the aircraft.
Meanwhile, three Qantas flights were also diverted on Friday – a QantasLink service from Melbourne to Canberra; a Boeing 737-800 from Melbourne to Sydney; and a flight from Adelaide to Melbourne – due to ‘engine and mechanical’ issues.