New runway saves the day

HEAVY fog at Sydney Airport last Friday morning resulted in four QantasLink Dash 8 planes bound for Sydney being diverted to Illawarra Regional Airport between 8:30am and 9:30am before being cleared to continue their journeys to Sydney at around 11:00am.

The influx of planes gave airport staff and passengers alike a taste of the activity that could characterise Illawarra Regional Airport in the future, should QantasLink services be expanded in years to come.

In the space of an hour, close to 200 passengers disembarked from the four 55-seat Dash 8s and were accommodated in the terminal building.

Shellharbour City Councils Director of Operations and Services Arthur Webster, said that everything went very smoothly, in spite of the unexpected arrival of such a large number of passengers.

They made good use of the terminal facilities, including the restaurant and shop during the stopover, Mr Webster said.

Airport staff worked hard to ensure all passengers were processed efficiently and that they were looked after.

The unscheduled flight arrivals happened to coincide with one of the Australian Federal Polices visits to the airport to check on airport security, and according one Federal Police Officer, everything went very smoothly.

The four flights diverted to the Illawarra Airport originated from Melbourne, Canberra, Tamworth and Wagga a spokesperson for QantasLink said.

Being able to divert the planes to Wollongong meant that many of the passengers suffered only minimum delays as a result of the fog at Sydney Airport, he said.

Without the airport facility in the Illawarra, the planes would have had to be diverted to Canberra, adding significantly to some of the delays.

The majority of passengers seemed unruffled by the unscheduled stopover, with many taking the opportunity to enjoy a coffee or breakfast in the restaurant, while others browsed through the airport shop.

According to one passenger from Tamworth, if a diversion was necessary, it was much preferable to be diverted to somewhere so close to Sydney rather than somewhere much further away.