Airport chaos for travelers along Australia’s east coast with flight delays and cancellations
Travel chaos hits hundreds of travelers for third straight day as flight delays and cancellations rock major airports
- Travel chaos at airports along Australia’s east coast
- Mass flight cancellations and delays expected
- Strong winds and personnel problems are at the root of the problems
Hundreds of travelers are facing lengthy airport delays for a third straight day after fierce winds brought flights to a halt.
Major airports in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane have been plagued with a number of cancellations and delays over the past three days due to high winds and staffing issues.
A handful of flights were delayed or canceled at Sydney and Brisbane airports on Sunday morning.
Chaos has hit airports along Australia’s east coast with more widespread flight cancellations and delays expected for the third day in a row
It has resulted in long check-in lines at both airports as airlines scramble to clear a backlog of widespread cancellations.
Travelers are requested to be at the airport early for their flight and to keep track of their flight details.
Some 18 flights were canceled at Sydney Airport on Saturday, accounting for a total of five percent of planes flying in and out of the airport.
About 88 percent of flights also experienced delays on the day itself.
As a result, many travelers have to wait more than half an hour before they can board their flight.
Most of the cancellations came from Virgin Australia due to staffing issues.
“Multiple air traffic control shortages experienced on the network over the past two days, as well as a shortening to one runway in Sydney yesterday, have led to a number of crew moves and operational issues now impacting flights in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.” , a spokesman for the airline said.
The airline explained that more “outages” were expected for Sunday due to “the continued impact of the industry-wide disruptions over the past two days.”
Sydney Airport had 18 canceled flights on Saturday, representing five percent of flights in and out of the city
“All guests affected by cancellations will be reinstated on the next available flights,” the spokesperson added.
“We apologize to all guests impacted by delayed or canceled services, and we work tirelessly to ensure all guests reach their final destination.”
Strong winds have also been attributed to major disruptions to east coast airports.
Westerly winds reached up to 39 mph on Saturday and gusts to 61 mph at Sydney Airport, according to Weatherzone.
For Sunday, the westerly winds reached their expected maximum of 26 km/h in the morning.
The travel chaos comes as New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland are on school holidays.