Created Monday, Jan 20th 2025 17:48Z, last updated Tuesday, Jan 21st 2025 18:18Z
A Qantas Airbus A330-200, registration VH-EBK performing flight
QF-19 from Sydney,NS (Australia) to Manila (Philippines), was enroute at FL380 about 320nm westnorthwest of Cairns,QL (Australia) when the crew decided to divert to Cairns reporting they had a fume event in the back of the cabin. The aircraft landed safely on Cairn's runway 33 about one hour later.
A passenger reported a number of passengers and cabin crew became feeling ill and complained about headaches etc. due to strong smells from the rear of the aircraft. The passengers remained in Cairns over night.
The aircraft was able to continue the flight after about 21 hours on the ground and reached Manila with a delay of about 23 hours.
On Jan 21st 2025 it became known, that the fumes were traced down to a blanket contaminated with a fluid in flight.
The airline reported they do not yet know what fluid had been spilt onto the blanket in flight.
Related Flight:
QF19,
Qantas News
