Qantas and Virgin cancels flights into Brisbane till Sunday as Cyclone Alfred menaces coastline

Cyclone Alfred flight cancellations will top 500 after Qantas and Virgin announced a halt to domestic services in Brisbane until Sunday.

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Flight cancellations ahead of Cyclone Alfred will top 500, after Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Australia halted all services in and out of Brisbane on Thursday for at least two days.

Qantas international operations were expected to remain suspended until at least midday Saturday, and domestic flights would not get back into the air until at least Sunday.

Gold Coast flights faced a similar hiatus, and services into Ballina would remain suspended until Sunday morning.

Services into Coffs Harbour were expected to resume on Friday while flights to and from the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay continued to operate.

A Qantas spokeswoman said flight cancellations were about making sure they were best prepared prior to the cyclone now forecast to hit Brisbane on the weekend.

“This includes making sure our people and aircraft are safe,” said the spokeswoman.

Virgin Australia also announced the cancellation of flights from Brisbane, Ballina and the Gold Coast until Sunday “as soon as it was safe to do so”.

“While closely monitoring the weather systems and forecasted timing, we are preparing our operation with a focus on ensuring our people are safe, and our aircraft are stored appropriately,” said a Virgin spokeswoman.

Qantas planes at Brisbane domestic airport. Picture: Courier-Mail

International carriers were taking a similar approach, but Brisbane Airport vowed to remain open for emergency and aeromedical flights.

Total flight cancellations ahead of Cyclone Alfred in southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales are now in excess of 500, creating a logistical nightmare for airlines to get passengers where they needed to go.

Already, Gold Coast and Lismore Airport have shut up shop in response to mass flight cancellations, and Ballina Byron Bay Airport has also seen every flight axed for the second day in a row.

The Qantas spokeswoman said they realised it was a challenging time for customers, and as a result the airline was offering additional flexibility including travel credits and fee-free data changes to those with flight bookings to or from the impacted areas.

Brisbane-based Alliance Aviation is sending aircraft to shelter at its Rockhampton hangar. Picture: Rockhampton Regional Council

Qantas, Virgin Australia and Alliance Aviation are also preparing to relocate any aircraft from Brisbane to other centres to ensure their safety during Cyclone Alfred.

Alliance managing director Scott McMillan said they would send aircraft to Rockhampton and move others into their hangar.

Any left in Brisbane would have their wheels chocked and tethered to concrete blocks to ensure they were not sent on an unscheduled flight by Alfred’s destructive winds.

Bureau of Meteorology tracking showed Cyclone Alfred crossing the coastline into Brisbane early Saturday, after it slowed down on Wednesday night.

Experts have warned residents not to be complacent, and prepare for the destructive winds and heavy rains as well as possible.

Professor of atmospheric sciences at Monash University, Liz Ritchie-Tyo, said there was no doubt Alfred would cross the coast, and everyone needed to “hang tight”.

She said the cyclone was being “steered” by winds from a very strong high pressure system in the Tasman Sea.

“The winds to the north of that high are pushing it toward the west which is why it’s moving towards the coast and that’s not going to go away,” said Professor Ritchie-Tyo.

She said the winds had lightened off, slowing Alfred’s movement, but it remained under the influence of the high pressure system which would keep moving it toward the coast.

As Qantas grappled with the challenge of scores of flight cancellations on the east coast, the airline was also dodging space junk from Elon Musk’s SpaceX craft over the Indian Ocean.

A spokeswoman confirmed debris had again delayed a flight arriving into Sydney from Johannesburg on Thursday, which in turn pushed back the departure of QF1 to London.

Originally published as Qantas and Virgin cancels flights into Brisbane till Sunday as Cyclone Alfred menaces coastline