12 hurt as ‘things go flying’ in A330

:Qantas on Monday defended its fleet of Airbus A330s after severe turbulence left 12 people injured.

The Australian flag-carrier blamed the incident, during a flight from Hong Kong to Perth, on freak weather conditions and dismissed any link to A330 accidents, including the Air France disaster on June 1.

Flight QF68 was passing over Malaysia about four hours into its flight when it was hit by a blast of ferocious turbulence, dropping about 30 metres and sending passengers flying.

“It appeared like we’d dropped out of a 30-storey building,” said passenger Keith Huxtable, as another traveller described how a woman was flung onto the plane’s ceiling.

“I was sitting at the exit door and I had this lady, (who) was waiting in the restroom. She flew up, hit the ceiling and came crashing down to the floor,” the passenger, John, told Fairfax radio. “It was a matter of a few seconds but it was really sudden and things went flying.”

Twelve people were treated for bruises and neck and back pain after the plane landed at about 7.30am in Perth.

The Airbus had 206 passengers and 13 crew on board. Several passengers without seatbelts fastened were hurled around the cabin.

Pilot Brett Flack decided it was safe to fly on to Perth after the injuries had been reported back to medical authorities in Australia.

Meanwhile, British airline Virgin Atlantic marked its 25th anniversary on Monday by announcing a recession-beating deal for 10 Airbus passenger jets worth $2.1 billion.
Richard Branson’s Virgin said it had ordered 10 mid-sized and fuel-efficient A330-300 passenger planes in a further sign it was doing far better at beating the downturn compared to beleaguered rival British Airways.