Year: 2023

The investment will include renovations and the construction of new facilities to accommodate the helicopter and crew, which will arrive from 2025.

The disruption follows Airservices Australia, which oversees air traffic control, switching the country’s biggest airport off parallel runway operations on Friday as winds peaked at 37km an hour.

Airservices Australia, which oversees air traffic control, said the decision to switch to single runway operations was not due to a lack of controllers but purely as a safety precaution.

Gate 3 at the airport will handle all Rex and Link Airways flights with fewer than 40 passengers, which do not require security screening, after federal funding for screening processes at regional airports ends on July 1. Qantas passengers will continue to use the screened departure gate.

The organisation that runs ATC said the shutdown, between 6 am and 1:30pm, was instead due to a “short-term” and “unplanned” leave of controllers and did not affect safety.

The low-cost carrier’s problems with cancellations are compounded because it mostly flies ‘low frequency’ routes not serviced by its rivals – meaning customers often struggle to find alternative transport home.