Thousands of travellers stranded as airport restricted to one runway, impacting international and domestic flights

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Strong winds have caused chaos at Sydney airport with almost 100 flights in and out of the city cancelled, leaving thousands of travellers stranded.

The Bureau of Meteorology on Friday issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds over New South Wales’s southeast – stretching from the Victorian border up to the Hunter region.

Sydney airport was restricted to using only one runway, impacting international and domestic flights.

Sydney Airport ✈️ (@SydneyAirport) ⚠Sydney Airport is still experiencing domestic and international flight delays and cancellations due to strong winds. For updated flight information, please get in contact with your airline, or subscribe to our @flySYD alert service.

At least 50 domestic flights departing Sydney and 37 domestic arrivals into Sydney were cancelled.

Dust, snow, wind and fire: massive weather system hits eastern Australia Read more

Jetstar, Virgin, Qantas and TigerAir were all affected.

A Virgin spokeswoman said the situation was changing rapidly with very limited flights able to operate.

Qantas (@Qantas) Sydney Airport is still experiencing flight delays and cancellations due to strong winds and flights at Melbourne Airport have been impacted by storms. Please check your flight status https://t.co/tmlrEaG3Rg

The bureau meteorologist Rose Barr said Sydney airport had been hit with “fairly significant” winds, with gusts reaching up to 70km/h.

The strong winds also wreaked havoc near Newcastle airport at Salt Ash, where a fast-moving bushfire has burnt through more than 1,500 hectares of land.

Jetstar Airways (@JetstarAirways) Heads up if you're flying in or out of Sydney or Melbourne today, strong winds and poor weather are impacting flights. We'll keep you updated with the latest info here: https://t.co/2D8KsyvhoJ

Qantas scheduled additional flights on Saturday from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane to help recover from Friday’s delays.

The winds were part of a massive weather system that threw a blanket of dust over Sydney on Thursday but blew out to sea on Friday morning.

Meanwhile, damaging winds with gusts of up to 120km/h were expected east of Orbost, in Victoria, on Friday.

Louka Parry (@loukaparry) Absolute chaos at Melbourne Airport due to weather with multi hour delays. At least we can laugh and walk laps to get some step goals with @adambspencer #loungefitness pic.twitter.com/Fm7E26lp40

The State Emergency Service urged locals to move cars away from trees, secure loose items and keep clear of fallen power lines.

Further south, Tasmanian police were dealing with several calls about fallen trees in north-eastern parts of the state, with drivers urged to take extra care on the roads.