Cathay Pacific Flight CX156
BNE–HKG · 23 May 2026 · Express your interest by registering below.
On Saturday, 23 May 2026, Cathay Pacific flight CX156 from Brisbane to Hong Kong encountered severe turbulence that subjected passengers to sudden, dangerous changes in G forces about two hours prior to landing. Passengers sustained injuries ranging from moderate to severe.
Carter Capner Law is representing those affected. If you or a family member were on board, you may be eligible for compensation.
Compensation under the Montréal Convention
Even if the airline is not at fault, the Montréal 1999 Convention enables passengers to claim up to AUD$260,000 for proven losses like medical expenses, loss of amenities of life and income loss for proven bodily injury.
The airline must also pay a higher amount unless it proves the accident was not due to its negligence or that of its pilots or engineers, so in that respect there is no longer a limit on compensation.
All passengers on the Cathay Pacific flight, irrespective of where they live, are able to claim.
Who is acting for affected passengers
Peter Carter will conduct the compensation claims. As well as holding a private pilot’s licence, Mr Carter is a long-standing member and former national counsellor of the Aviation Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and a member of the Lawyer-Pilot Bar Association (USA).
He also acts for passengers and crew on LATAM Airlines Flight 800 which plunged suddenly between Sydney and Auckland in March 2024 and Singapore Airlines Flight SQ321 that encountered severe turbulence over Myanmar in May 2024. He previously acted for severely injured passengers aboard QANTAS Flight 72 that plunged twice over the Indian Ocean between Singapore and Perth in 2008.
Background to the incident
Cathay Pacific flight CX156, an Airbus A350-900 carrying passengers from Brisbane to Hong Kong, suddenly dropped about two hours before landing. At least 10 people were severely injured — six cabin crew and four passengers — with eight taken to hospital in Hong Kong for treatment. Many others received less severe injuries.
Passengers reported the aircraft plunged twice in quick succession without warning, throwing unbelted occupants and food carts into the cabin ceiling during the breakfast service. There was no seatbelt sign or warning beforehand.
Cathay said its aircraft encountered a weather system that appeared with “little warning”, much like the initial explanation by Singapore Airlines, which claimed its 2024 accident was caused by unforeseeable “clear air turbulence”. That explanation was debunked when the final investigation report found the SQ321 accident was caused by flying too close to thunderstorms.
Aircrews in both events would surely have received forecasts indicating the likelihood of thunderstorms on their planned route and ought to have been hypervigilant while transiting places of known convective activity. Pilots are trained to stay well distant from storms because aircraft can be severely affected several thousands of feet above a thunderstorm cell and up to 20 miles laterally.
A further investigation will be needed for the Cathay flight to determine exactly what happened — what weather was forecast; how close were the storms; how quickly did the aircrew react?
Key Questions Being Investigated
- Who were the operating aircrew at the time and what was their experience level?
- What is the distance mandated in the airline’s operations manual for pilots to stay clear of thunderstorms?
- What were the pilots doing at the time of the onset of the incident and in particular how carefully were they monitoring the weather radar?
- Why was the seatbelt sign not illuminated, given the corridor between Australia and Southeast Asia is a known turbulence hotspot?
- What weather information was available to the crew on the planned route, and was the storm cell visible on radar at any earlier time?
Register your interest now to find out about your compensation entitlements.
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