First ever 777-300 lands at the Gold Coast

[Brandon Giacomin]

Don't think this has been mentioned but Emirates Boeing 777-300ER A6-ECM en-route AKL-BNE as EK435 diverted to the Gold Coast tonight. Not sure why, she has since departed to Brisbane. First ever Boeing 777-300 to land at OOL.

[Brock Little]

:'(

[Matt Coughran]

Sorry to Bring up an Old Post.

But after speaking with friends who worked on the aircraft of the night in Both OOL and BNE have said due to being held off the Australian coast for a while it was quite low on fuel and was required to land at OOL.

A photo of it parked at the Airport.


Video of take off

A rare and unforgettable sight to see such a large aircraft land on the Gold Coast. I dont think we will see this happen again any time soon!

Thanks
Matt.

[Rowan McKeever]

Good info Matt, cheers. Begs the question though, wouldn't it have been 'better' (more efficient etc) if the ATC knew the fuel situation to simply give it priority for BNE? Or was BNE closed at the time? Cheers, Rowan

[Mick F]

Probably not. ATC's hands are tied unless they declare an emergency. And a diversion is a MUCH preferred result than having to declare a fuel emergency.

Mick

[Rowan McKeever]

Thanks Mick... I guess the paperwork/reporting would be a little easier for a diversion than a fuel emergency!?

[Brock Little]

The Gold Coast got another EK 77W last night with A6-ECG diverting due to storms in BNE.

[Michael Dawson]

Might become a regular occurrence during summer with the storms and Brisbane now on single runway ops. Listening to Live ATC during the storms the other night one controller commented to aircraft that during the peak of the storm they had 15-20 aircraft in the hold near Brisbane and could not accept anymore than that. He ended up putting a Tiger and a Virgin flight from Melbourne flight in a holding pattern above Tamworth until things calmed down. Let see what summer brings us.

Cheers

Michael