Flight delays as fog hits holiday rush
Adelaide Airport has been hit with another string of flight cancellations and delays this morning as fog descends on the western suburbs and the school holiday traveller surge continues.
Photo: Andrew Spence/InDaily
The airport’s arrivals and departures dashboard shows six flights cancelled and 22 delayed today, including several scheduled to take off this afternoon.
The cancellations include a morning Jetstar service between Adelaide and Melbourne and a Virgin service between Adelaide and Perth.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a road weather alert just before 5.30am, advising “reduced visibility in fog will make road conditions dangerous during Tuesday in the Adelaide area”.
An airport spokesperson said at 7.20am this morning there was low visibility at the airport, but it was “not affecting flights at this stage”.
“Scheduled departures have taken off this morning and the first two international arrivals have landed,” the spokesperson said.
“Very busy again in the terminal but queues are moving well and most early morning departures have left on time.”
In an update issued shortly after 8:45am, the spokesperson said the airport’s understanding was today’s flight cancellations are not due to weather .
“There are minor delays to services this morning due to low visibility, although at this stage the majority of flights have been able to land and take off as scheduled,” the spokesperson said.
“Weather conditions at the airport may continue to change through the morning so we would recommend travellers check with their airlines for the latest information.”
BoM senior forecaster Jenny Horvat told ABC Radio Adelaide that visibility at Adelaide Airport dropped to as low as 50 metres this morning.
It has since returned to 400 metres, she said.
The latest disruptions at Adelaide Airport come after the terminal processed around 100,000 passengers last weekend coinciding with the start of the term 2 school holidays.
The airport on Friday worked through one of its busiest days since the start of the pandemic with around 30,000 travellers passing through the terminal.
Airport management is anticipating traffic will continue to build through the two-week school break, with July 22 expected to set another post-pandemic record for traveller numbers.
