Sydney flights diverted bcoz of red dust storm

News added by Fred under Airline News

Flights arriving and departing from Sydney Airport will today experience “significant delays” as a red cloud of dust blanketed the city overnight causing massive disruptions.Sydney-siders woke up Wednesday to red skies as strong winds and unseasonably warm weather appears to have brought on a thick dust storm overnight, leaving major roads closed and Sydney Airport experiencing delays and cancellations.

“Extensive disruption due to high winds and low visibility [from the dust storm] can be expected today,” Michael Samaras, Sydney Airport Manager, Media and Communications, told e-Travel Blackboard.“There will be significant delays… we don’t want to mislead people on that.”Mr Samaras says that some flights this morning have taken off and some have landed, but there have been a large number of delays and diversions to other airports.

Passengers are being recommended by Sydney Airport to call up their airline to see if their flight has been disrupted.Sydney Airport is bracing itself for disruptions the entire day, as the dust storm shows no signs of lifting.“Even if it cleared now, there would still be delays throughout the day due to knock-on effects,” adds Mr Samaras.

e-Travel Blackboard has had a quick look at flight movements this morning and can see that EK412 from Dubai, EY450 from Abu Dhabi, VS200 from Hong Kong, and DJ625 from Canberra are some of the planes which have landed successfully.QF568 from Perth, QF12 from Los Angeles, DL17 from Los Angeles, and JL771 from Tokyo have been redirected; while DJ629 from Canberra, NZ741 from Wellington, and NZ101 from Auckland.

Most flights out of Sydney currently only show that they have been delayed, while between the hours of 6am to 9am only Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand have cancelled services.

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