EVA Air flight departs for Taiwan after overnight delay in Sapporo

Taipei, Jan. 5 (CNA) An EVA Air flight that was delayed overnight in Sapporo, Japan on Saturday due to mechanical issues departed Sunday on its flight back to Taiwan, the airline said.

In a social media post, one of the passengers, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen (陳士駿), said he boarded EVA Air flight BR115 Saturday ahead of its scheduled 3:20 p.m. departure, and then sat for 45 minutes before being asked to return to the boarding gate.

After deboarding, passengers received one bottle of water and a bag of potato chips as they continued waiting until 9 p.m., when they were informed that the flight had been rescheduled for the following day, Chen said.

In a statement issued Sunday, EVA Air said the plane being used for flight BR115 experienced a "system malfunction," which required inspection and repairs by maintenance personnel.

After confirming the flight would not be able to depart Saturday, airline staff helped arrange hotel accommodation for the passengers and rescheduled the flight for Sunday, EVA Air said, adding that it was "deeply sorry" for the inconvenience.

The rescheduled flight departed Sapporo Sunday at 12:49 p.m. and arrived at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport at 4:28 p.m., according to the airline.