Sydney Airport: Flights delayed and cancelled after strong winds shut down runways

Travellers are being hit with delays and cancellations at Sydney Airport due to strong winds.

Sydney Airport was notified by Airservices Australia on Friday evening that operations would likely revert to single runway operations due to weather conditions.

The issues have seen multiple flights in and out of the airport delayed or cancelled on Saturday morning.

However, no international flights have been affected.

The problems come after nearly 50 flights were cancelled at Sydney airport on Friday due to strong winds, with other flights experiencing lengthy delays.

Brisbane and Melbourne airports have also been impacted with passengers told they won’t be able to catch a flight until Tuesday. 

Virgin Australia said Saturday’s issues at Sydney Airport were due to crew displacements and operational issues.

The airline said Friday’s reduction to one runway in Sydney coupled with a late notification of a Ground Delay Program (GDP) at Brisbane Airport, in place from 2pm to 11pm Friday, was now impacting flights in Sydney on Saturday.

The GDP was declared due to a lack of Air Traffic Controllers in Brisbane, it saw a reduction for all arrivals to only 15 per hour for all airlines.

Virgin said it expects disruptions to continue but will work to move guests impacted by flight cancellations on Saturday onto the next available flights.

Qantas said delays were expected throughout the day in Sydney due the ongoing impacts of yesterday’s operations and restrictions on crew hours.

‘Customers will be moved onto the next available flight,’ a spokesman said.

The pre-emptive warning predicts the winds to blow in ‘late morning’, with parallel runways still in use as of 8am.

Sydney Airport said it understood that airlines had begun contacting affected passengers on Friday evening, as the airport expects a busy day on Saturday.

‘Sydney Airport has been advised by Airservices Australia that single runway operations will likely be in place by late morning due to strong winds,’ a spokesperson said.

‘As a result, there are some flight delays and cancellations.’

Sydney Airport was notified by Airservices Australia on Friday evening that operations would likely revert to single runway operations due to weather conditions

An Airservices Australia spokesperson said Friday’s decision was ‘purely weather and safety-related’, however many patrons questioned the circumstances around the impacted flights.

The airspace safety organisation said ‘strong, gusty’ westerly winds of 37km/h resulted in conditions deemed unsafe to operate parallel runways, with the implementation of a single runway operation as a safety precaution.

Many on social media were quick, however, to question whether winds were truly to blame.

One Twitter user shared a photo of clear skies allegedly taken on Friday morning, stating there was ‘no wind’.

Other users said ‘airlines, staff shortages and runway maintenance’ were truly to blame.

Another person speculated as to why only domestic flights had been impacted, given the delays and cancellations were put down to windy conditions.

Brisbane Airport confirmed there were ‘no issues’ on Saturday morning, with operations ‘flowing nicely’ ahead of what is expected to be a ‘very busy day in the terminal’.