Brisbane Airport chaos flights cancelled, delayed for hours due to wild weather

Brisbane Airport has been thrown into chaos this morning, with wild weather causing delays of more than two hours to multiple flights, while Qantas passengers have had to deal with further frustration.

Brisbane Airport has been thrown into chaos this morning, with wild weather causing delays of more than two hours to multiple flights.

Flights from the Gold Coast have also been affected.

Wild winds have resulted in two of Sydney Airport’s three runways being closed, with 37 flights cancelled and others greatly delayed.

Flights that were expected to arrive in Brisbane between 7am and 9am have been pushed back to between 1pm and 3pm.

But while the major issue was affecting flights to and from Sydney, the head of public affairs at Brisbane Airport, Stephen Beckett, said it was causing a “knock-on effect for all the other airports”.

More than 30 flights have been cancelled and more delays expected after strong winds closed runways at Sydney airport. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

A total of six flights from Brisbane to Sydney have been cancelled this morning.

“We also accepted a Qantas flight from Dallas to Sydney here in Brisbane because of what's going on in Sydney,” Mr Beckett said.

Qantas said it cancelled around 20 services due to Sydney’s weather conditions.

It said customers were contacted directly if their flight had been impacted to move them to the next available flight later in the day.

Virgin contacted guests on Sunday, advising of possible disruption at the Sydney Airport.

A Virgin Australia Group Spokesperson said guests were encouraged to visit the Virgin Australia website to check the status of their flight prior to travel.

The Sydney airport is now working to open the second runway.

Adding to the headaches, some Qantas passengers were left confused when they received messages from the airline on Sunday night apologising for their flight cancellation.

“Due to a shortage of Air Traffic Controllers, your flight on 8 May may be delayed or cancelled,” the message read.

An AirServices Australia spokesperson did not respond to claims the change in operations was due to an air traffic controller shortage but re-emphasised messaging that it was due to “strong runway crosswinds”.

“This decision is purely weather-related – crosswinds on the parallel runways are up to 56km/h and stronger gusts are possible,” the spokesperson said.

A text message sent to a Qantas passenger. Picture: 2GB

The Qantas messages blamed the delays and cancellations on a ‘shortage of air traffic controllers’. Picture: 2GB

Mr Beckett said the best course of action for waiting passengers to take is to liaise with their airline.

Flights between Sydney and the Sunshine Coast have also been impacted.

Parallel runway operations at Sydney are expected to return by the early afternoon when wind conditions are expected to ease.