Because of SpaceX rockets: Qantas flights repeatedly delayed for hours

The Australian airline Qantas has already had to ground several flights to South Africa for hours because the US government has warned of falling parts of SpaceX rockets in the Indian Ocean. The long-haul flights on the so-called “Wallaby route” have been delayed by up to six hours as a result, Ben Holland from Qantas told the Guardian. Normally, his company always tries to make necessary changes to the flight schedule in good time, but recently the warnings came so late “that we had to postpone some flights just before take-off”. Even if it is not explicitly stated, the rockets are probably the Starship, which is due to take off again today, Wednesday.

Understanding passengers

Qantas is already in talks with SpaceX to find out whether the affected areas can be narrowed down more and the respective warning time improved in order to reduce future disruptions on the flight route. The passengers themselves usually understand that the causes of the delays are not the airline's fault, explains Holland. The “Wallaby route” between Australia and South Africa has been in existence for more than 70 years and initially required several stopovers. These were reminiscent of the short hops of the kangaroos of the same name, hence the name. However, the route is now flown without a stopover and, according to the Financial Times, is particularly popular with tourists and mining industry managers.

Disruptions to air traffic due to space activities are rare, but they do occur from time to time. This is mainly due to a lack of warning time. When the 20-ton main stage of a Chinese launch vehicle crashed uncontrollably in autumn 2022, Spanish airspace was briefly closed because the debris could have crashed there. Overall, it broke into two pieces over the Pacific and crashed into the ocean. SpaceX also chose the Indian Ocean as the destination for the test flights of its giant Starship rocket because the area is particularly remote. However, Qantas' experience now shows that air traffic is still affected.

(mho)