Qantas A-380 forced to ground in Azerbaijan sparks delays with Christmas thrown into doubt

A Qantas flight that crash-landed in Azerbaijan has caused delays worldwide, with Aussie families unsure whether they would make it home for Christmas.

The A-380 aircraft was en route from Singapore to London when the plane was forced to divert to Heydar Aliyev International Airport in Baku on Friday.

Pilots had received an intermittent malfunction indicator in the cockpit, forcing them to detour at the last minute.

Stranded passengers don’t know if they will make it home on time, while travelers in London said they were supposed to catch the plane to Australia after landing.

Now they’ve been told they probably won’t fly until Christmas Day, as the news turns their festive celebrations into chaos.

In another blow, another Qantas flight was canceled 10 minutes before it was due to depart from Bali, upsetting more passengers on the other side of the world.

Nik Long is one of the holidaymakers stranded in Baku and said he was on the next flight which was due to depart at 10:30pm on Saturday.

“Most of us are still in limbo waiting for details for connecting flights,” he said The Sydney Morning Herald.

So Christmas can be spent in the air [or in] immigration.’

One passenger, who had asked to remain anonymous but was supposed to catch the plane once it landed in London, said they would miss the Christmas celebrations.

‘We were [meant] to fly to Sydney tonight, December 23,’ he said. “The whole point was to be home by Christmas.

“Now it looks like we can fly on the 25th and get home on Boxing Day… It’s very upsetting for my family, and I’m a little stunned.”

A Qantas spokesman said the company had dispatched a relief flight and deployed engineers from London to Azerbaijan to repair the plane.

Passengers stranded in Baku complained they waited seven hours before being directed to a nearby hotel as the airline worked on planes to get them out.

One person said passengers were forced to hand over their passports to Azerbaijani authorities so that they could be “taken somewhere for the approval process.”

Qantas has upset travelers in Bali after the airline canceled one of its flights minutes before passengers were due to board the plane.

Holidaymakers were told they would be accommodated in hotels until another flight was found for them.

Passenger William Mansell said the flight had already been delayed due to bad weather before it was canceled because staff had not been given enough breaks.

He said the airline had made no apology and he would return to Australia at 6.30am on Christmas morning.

A Qantas spokeswoman said the flight was delayed due to a combination of factors.

“Due to unexpected bad weather in Bali on Friday, one of our flights from Sydney diverted to Jakarta,” she said.

“Due to crew rest requirements, the flight was not able to continue to Bali until Saturday. This also delayed return service from Bali to Sydney.

“While we know this would have been frustrating for passengers, our teams are getting them on their way as quickly as possible.”

The airline also released a statement following the emergency landing of its A-380 in Baku on Friday.

“The aircraft was intermittently warning the pilots of possible smoke in the cargo hold,” a spokesman said.

“While it was thought it was probably a sensor failure, the plane was diverted to Baku for safety reasons.

“The initial investigations found no evidence of smoke in the cargo hold. We thank customers for their patience and we are working to get them up and running as quickly as possible.”