Cebu Pacific passengers stranded in Sabah leave for Singapore at own expense

Dozens of passengers on a Cebu Pacific Air plane forced to make an emergency landing at Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) in eastern Malaysia state Sabah have chosen to make their own way back to Singapore, their original destination, instead of waiting for a replacement flight. The travellers from Cebu, a mix of Filipinos and Singaporeans, had been put up in a hotel in Kota Kinabalu by the Philippine airline. But despite on-site assistance from airline staff, passengers who spoke to The Straits Times said they decided not to wait another night to complete what was meant to be a routine four-hour journey to Singapore. They would have been expected to go through another layover in Kuala Lumpur with Cebu Pacific Air, as the airline does not offer direct flights from Sabah to Singapore. Their original plane, which left the Philippines at around 7.55pm on Wednesday, was scheduled to land in Singapore just before midnight but encountered problems with its left engine during the flight, a KKIA official said. The pilot made an emergency landing in Kota Kinabalu at about 10.20pm. There were 92 crew members and passengers on the plane, which was in the air for just under two hours – around half the usual flight time from Cebu to Singapore – according to data from flight trackers.<br/>