Melbourne Airport experienced important disruptions Tuesday evening โafter the Qantas terminal was evacuated due to a fire, leaving arriving flights stranded on the tarmac for extended periods. Flights into and out of the airport wereโ delayed, โคwith a number of cancellations reported to destinations including โคBrisbane, sydney, and Adelaide.
The ABC’s Craig Dixon was onโฃ a flight arriving from Sydney at 7:50pm when the incident occurred.”We โคlanded and โฃwere just turning off the runway when weโฃ stopped and the captainโ came onโฃ and โคsaid weโ couldn’t go further as thereโ was some sort of incident involving โฃa โfire and the terminal had been evacuated,” he โฃsaid. he reported โseeing at least two, possibly three, other planes landing behindโ his, with the โฃcaptain stating four โflights were queued ahead of them.
According to Dixon, passengers โคwaited approximatelyโข one hour before planes began moving under contingency plans. Though, some passengers remained onโ the tarmac forโฃ up to two hours after landing. โ
Qantas confirmed the delays but did notโ specify the duration of the disruptions. Melbourne Airport authorities stated the safety of passengers and โstaff remained their top priority. Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 โshowed multiple Qantas planes lined up along the tarmac during the evacuation.
