Strong winds force closure of runways at Sydney Airport amid busy weekend
Strong winds have forced the closure of some runways at Sydney Airport, causing flight delays during one of the busiest weekends of the year.
The two north-south runways are not in operation due to the weather meaning all departures and arrivals are operating on the single east-west runway.
This has impacted both domestic and international services as flights have been prioritised and rescheduled on the single runway.
The delays for departures are currently between 20 and 40 minutes, Sydney Airport confirmed to 9News.com.au, while arrivals are running on time.
“Sydney Airport is experiencing some traffic delays due to increasing westerly winds,” an Airservices Australia spokesperson said.
“This has resulted in one runway in use until wind conditions improve.”
A Sydney Airport spokesperson said they were expecting it won’t be until around 8pm that all runways will reopen.
No flights have been cancelled, and anyone with questions about their flight is advised to contact the airline directly, rather than the airport.
Westerly wind speeds have been sitting around 40 kilometres an hour at Sydney Airport, and the strongest gust recorded so far was 63km/h at 1.24pm, Senior Meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology Jordan Notara told 9News.com.au.
The warm weather today is increasing the speed of the winds, he explained, but said as the temperature drops this afternoon so will the wind.
“Tomorrow winds will be strong again in the morning before settling,” Notara said.
The delays come amid a busy weekend of travel, with people taking advantage of the four-day Easter break to head both interstate and overseas.
