Several Qantas flights between Sydney and Johannesburg have reportedly been delayed amid warnings of falling debris from Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets.
The Australian flag carrier was forced to react to US government advice regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive part of the southern Indian Ocean.
The delays of up to six hours were caused due to last-minute changes in coordinates for the location and timing of re-entry of rockets from the space technology firm.
The airline receives warnings specifying geographical coordinates and timing of re-entry but these can change at short notice, sometimes up until the time of departure.
Ben Holland, head of Qantas’s operations centre quoted by Reuters, said: “While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure.
“We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption.”