PUBLISHED ONJanuary 13, 2026 4:58 AMUPDATEDJanuary 15, 2026 3:05 AMBYEsther LamThree hundred and one passengers were left stranded onboard a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight for close to five hours when it was told to turn back shortly after take off.
SIA flight SQ661 was originally scheduled to depart from New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido at 9.30am (8.30am Singapore time) and arrive in Singapore at 5.05pm on Jan 10.
However, the flight was delayed until 10.14am and 50 minutes after it took off, it was told to return to the airport and landed at 11.30am.
A passenger, who gave her name as Taylor, said that SIA cited technical issues for the turnaround and that the plane "might be able to fly by 1.15pm".
"1.15pm came and went, and at 2.15pm we were finally told our plane would no longer be able to take off," added Taylor.
She recalled that some passengers only disembarked the plane after 5pm as they had to wait for buses to bring them to the main terminal.
Taylor's family, seated in economy class, had been on the plane since 9am and only left at 5.36pm. When they arrived at the airport, there were two queues: One for accommodations and one for flights.
"No one was helping and we had to get information from all other passengers," said Taylor, summing up the entire incident as "truly upsetting".
In response to AsiaOne's queries, an SIA spokesperson said that the aircraft was assigned a remote parking bay upon arrival at the airport as engineers investigated the issue. The flight was subsequently cancelled at 2.15pm as additional time was required for the investigation.
The spokesperson added that due to peak travel season constraints, ramp bus availability was limited and disembarkation took longer than expected with the final group of passengers disembarking after 5pm.
"SIA provided the affected customers with regular updates, and arranged hotel accommodation, land transport options, and meals in Sapporo and Chitose where possible. SIA will also reimburse customers for alternative arrangements made for their hotel accommodation and meals," said the spokesperson.
Passengers spent over three hours at the airport terminal checking in and awaiting accommodation arrangements, reported Shin Min.
One of the passengers, Liu, told the Chinese daily that she and the 22 people in her ASA Holidays tour group, including the tour group leader, were all stranded onboard and at one point, the plane cabin did not have air conditioning.
"Two tour groups were affected. I was with China-Europe Travel, and the other group was with CTC Travel. We were stuck in the cabin for quite a while," Liu added.
The affected passengers subsequently boarded another flight SQ9661 on Jan 11, which departed at 11.13am and landed in Singapore around 6.20pm.
Wu, 21, who had booked a local tour to Hokkaido with her parents, said that passengers were informed that the engineers needed to inspect the aircraft and that flight attendants provided meals, snacks and drinks while they were waiting inside the aircraft.
"The announcements were vague; they just told us to wait for instructions. We weren't allowed to disembark until 5pm," said Wu.
She added that aside from arranging accommodations, passengers also received around a 20,000 yen (S$162) taxi voucher for round-trip transportation between the hotel and airport. The airline also offered passengers a souvenir box and $100 KrisFlyer gift certificate.
SIA apologised to passengers in its statement for the cancelled flight and cited technical issues as the cause.
The airline also provided a replacement flight, which departed for Singapore at 10.57am on Jan 11 and landed at 6.24pm the same day, and assisted passengers with rebooking connecting flights from Singapore.
It added that, upon presentation of receipts, the airline would reimburse each passenger for two meals, including breakfast and dinner, up to 8,000 yen.
Passengers who arranged their own hotel accommodation in Hokkaido may be reimbursed up to 30,000 yen per room per night, as well as for round-trip transport between New Chitose Airport and the hotel, upon presentation of receipts, reported Shin Min.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article reported that passengers were stuck in the cabin for over 7 hours. This is incorrect. It should be about 5 hours.
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