Airports back in business after Cyclone Alfred

Airports forced to close as ­Cyclone Alfred drew near have welcomed back commercial flights after three days of cancellations.

Airports forced to close as ­Cyclone Alfred drew near have welcomed back commercial flights after three days of cancellations.

Flight boards at Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Ballina Byron Bay airports on Sunday showed a reduced schedule of flights as the downgraded cyclone continued to dump rain on the region.

Qantas and Jetstar led the way with the first domestic flights into Brisbane since Thursday afternoon, followed by Virgin Australia.

A Qantas spokeswoman said strong winds early on Sunday had caused delays in bringing aircraft back to Brisbane, forcing further schedule changes for the airline and partner Jetstar.

In an effort to help get customers to where they wanted to go, a 251-seat A330 was being used in the place of the usual 174-seat Boeing 737 on Sydney-Brisbane flights.

“Among the passengers today (Sunday) are more than 60 Queensland SES volunteers who are heading to Brisbane to help support the recovery efforts,” said the spokeswoman.

“Customers are being offered additional flexibility, including travel credits and fee-free date changes, to those who have booked flights to or from the impact areas.”

Since flights were suspended on Thursday, Qantas has cancelled around 500 flights creating a massive backlog of travellers being managed by a dedicated “Cyclone Alfred team” within the airline.

Some of the backlog was cleared on Sunday, as Qantas and Jetstar carried around 50,000 passengers and operated more than 200 flights in and out of southeast Queensland and northern NSW.

In a further setback, flights into Hervey Bay were ­suspended due to flooding, with further assessments to take place on Monday. Virgin Australia does not fly to Hervey Bay but the carrier had returned to Brisbane, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast and Ballina after being satisfied it was safe to do so.

Aircraft parked at Brisbane Airport after all flights were cancelled ahead of Cyclone Alfred. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

A Virgin spokesman said the airline’s team of meteorologists continued to closely monitor conditions for any further impacts from the tropical low, including wind and rainfall.

“We encourage all guests flying to or from southeast Queensland and northern NSW this week to regularly check their flight status on the Virgin Australia website for updates,” said the spokesman.

As with Qantas, Virgin had introduced greater flexibility for people whose travel plans were impacted by Alfred, including fee-free date changes and travel ­credits.

International flight operations also resumed out of Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Sunday, after a slew of cancellations Friday and Saturday.

Apart from some early morning flights, most international services went ahead as planned and Brisbane Airport’s flight board for Monday indicated all were expected to operate.

Brisbane Airport continued to ask travellers to confirm with their airline before heading to the gateway and warned against driving through flooded roads to get there.

Although bus services ­resumed a limited timetable in Brisbane on Sunday, trains and ferries remained out of action and authorities warned they would only return when it was safe to do so.

Originally published as Airports back in business after Cyclone Alfred