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Qantas is counting the cost of Sunday afternoon’s wild storm over Brisbane, with four aircraft damaged amid 150km/h winds.
Pictures taken from passengers and ground staff over the weekend showed stairs striking a Qantas Boeing 737-800 while passengers were on board, with one incident piercing a hole in an engine cowling.
Meanwhile, a QantasLink Boeing 717 also appeared to suffer damage to its fuselage, while a Jetstar Airbus A320 looked to have been hit by a water or liquid tank and other airport ground equipment.
Qantas confirmed the damage on its Twitter page.
We confirm a Qantas 737 was damaged due to severe storms @BrisbaneAirport. Ground crew are inspecting and we're working to minimise delays.
— Qantas (@Qantas) November 13, 2016
Later, the airline said in a statement the stairs were secured “as per standard procedure” and not in use at the time the severe wind gusts swept trough the airfield.
“During the severe storm and very high winds in Brisbane last night, three sets of portable airstairs were blown into three stationary Qantas 737s – one set of airstairs into each aircraft,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Australian Aviation.
“A QantasLink 717 was also impacted by a set of portable airstairs during the storm.
“We’ve never seen airstairs blown around like this, which speaks to the intensity of the storm.”
The spokesperson said the damaged Qantas aircraft were inspected by engineers and two 737-800s have since returned to service.
There was also some roof damage to a QantasLink hangar when parts of the roof were blown off.
“No one was injured and we thank passengers for their patience during some of the resulting delays last night,” the spokesperson said.
Photos of the damage can be seen on the Airline Hub Buzz Facebook page:
Brisbane Airport was also mopping up after the so-called “mini cyclone” struck.
While the airport acknowledged the disruption to flight schedules and the damage to its runway lights on its Twitter page, before adding later the airport was back to normal operations:
Hold onto your ??! Things are a little hectic with all of the storms this afternoon. Appreciate your patience & understanding #safetyfirst pic.twitter.com/Rb681IguAZ
— Brisbane Airport ✈️ (@BrisbaneAirport) November 13, 2016
✅ Phew! Runway lights on & airport back to normal operation. ? There are some delays due to ⛈ – check with your airline for updates.
— Brisbane Airport ✈️ (@BrisbaneAirport) November 12, 2016
Journalist Mark Drano, who was on board the 737, posted video of the storm from inside the aircraft on his Twitter page.
Storm send airport stairs into my flight. QANTAS staff say "mini tornado" hit Brisbane airport #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/iqVW2YoHav
— Mark Drano (@Drano2go) November 13, 2016
Ground staff now checking plane after storm sent stairs into it at Brisbane Airport #bnestorm pic.twitter.com/TumcejH1O5
— Mark Drano (@Drano2go) November 13, 2016
John Harrison
says:I was there waiting to return to Perth on QF767 which was an AB330-200 which was at the gate (thank goodness) I watched rain so bad, it was hard to believe what I was seeing. The whole building was shaking never mind the aircraft out on the ramp. We did leave albeit one hour and half late. Was amazing to have seen it all unfold in front of us.