(from News.com.au)
PASSENGERS on a brand new Airbus forced to make an emergency landing in Bali with just one engine this morning, will return to Melbourne early tomorrow.
The three-week old Airbus 330-200 was forced to make an emergency landing at 6.45am this morning after a fault with the left engine was detected in the cockpit.
Passengers in the mid-air drama were forced to wait on the tarmac at Denpasar Airport for 12 hours before getting clearance from Indonesian authorities.
Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said all 302 passengers and cabin crew had been processed by immigration and customs at Denpasar and were now awaiting a flight home.
"We are sending an aircraft to collect the passengers, their baggage and any freight onboard the aircraft," Mr Westaway said.
Mr Westaway said the replacement plane would leave Melbourne for Denpasar this afternoon and depart from Denpasar airport between 8pm and 9pm.
Passengers will return to Melbourne on board the same make and model Airbus involved in this morning's incident.
Jetstar played down concerns about using the same type of aircraft involved in the forced landing to bring people back home.
"There's no point in sending a plane that can't pick everybody up," Mr Westaway said.
Mr Westaway said passengers would arrive in Melbourne between 2am and 3am tomorrow.
The original flight JQ30, from Bangkok to Melbourne should have arrived at Tullamarine at 9.05am this morning, the emergency landing leaving passengers stranded for more than 12 hours.
So far, reasons for the incident are unknown.
"It is a brand new aircraft ... We are still getting details from the captain," Mr Westaway said.
He said engineers at Denpasar were still investigating the cause of the fault.
"We are sending another engineer up as well, it could be a technical problem or something more serious," he said.
Mr Westaway said Jetstar was providing food, drink and accommodation for passengers as they waited.
A passenger known only as Basil said the incident was handled well.
"My daughter actually got up to go to the toilet and about the same time the plane started to descend,'' he told Southern Cross Radio from the plane on the tarmac at Denpasar.
"There was no noise or anything. The pilot said that (we'd do an) emergency landing and all should go okay and it did.''
He said fire engines and ambulances were on standby as the plane landed.
Another passenger called Mark said the pilot made an announcement as they approached Denpasar airport that one of the engines had stopped.
"They just said one of the engines stopped and they couldn't start it again so they put the plane down in Bali," Mark told Southern Cross radio.
"It was a normal landing, you wouldn't have known the engine was out," he said.
Mark said he and his family were now stuck waiting in the terminal unsure of what was to happen.
"I think we are going to be stuck here for a while. They haven't said what is going on and there is no indication of what is happening," Mark said.
- with AAP