Face of Nation : “Hundreds of flights” in and out of Sydney airport have been cancelled due to the wild weather and winds currently battering the state.
28 of Jetstar’s domestic flights have been cancelled in and out of Sydney Airport, resulting in lengthy delays and seriously frustrated passengers — with some say they’ve been stranded at the airport for at least three hours.
It comes as a cold front, sweeping over eastern NSW, brought on gale force winds of up to 50km/hour in some areas.
But the gusts are even stronger at Sydney Domestic Airport, in Sydney’s inner south, with gales of up to 70km/hour, prompting many airlines to drop their scheduled flights at the last minute.
A spokeswoman told news.com.au the airport is using a single runway only, and encouraged customers to check their flight status with their airline before arriving at the airport.
Jetstar, Qantas, Tigerair, Virgin and Rex have all been forced to cancel numerous scheduled flights out of Sydney, leaving many customers unhappy.
Virgin warned customers that this weekend’s winds could result in some changes to flights. “We’ll do everything to get you on your way as quickly & safely as possible,” the airline posted to Twitter. “If you’re flying, be sure to keep an eye on your flight status.”
A spokesman for Jetstar said 28 of their flights in and out of Sydney had been cancelled, however no international flights had been impacted.
The airline said many of their flights had also been delayed, with passengers expected to wait between 20 and 40 minutes. “Over 100 flights have been cancelled across the board,” the spokesman said.
A severe weather warning, for damaging winds, remains in place for Sydney, the Illawarra, Southern Tablelands, Snowy Mountains and South Coast regions. Blizzards are also predicted in the state’s alpine regions above 1600m, on Sunday afternoon.
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service recommends that back country travel be postponed until conditions improve, the weather bureau said. Strong winds lashed parts of the state earlier in the week, with Thredbo recording a peak wind gust of 115km/h on Thursday.
A peak wind gust of 96km/h also hit Moss Vale in the Southern Highlands on Thursday.
The bureau has issued a gale wind warning for the Hunter, Sydney, Illawarra, Batemans Bay and Eden coasts on Saturday.
