Some flights are abruptly delayed due to falling debris from Elon Musk’s Space Xrockets that are re-entering the earth, Qantas said.
For weeks, the airline has been forced to postpone flights — for up to six hours — on the Sydney-Johannesburg route due to last-minute changes in both the timing and location of the re-entry of Space X rockets, Reuters reported.
Musk, the world’s richest person, is the founder of Space X.
“Over the past few weeks we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the U.S. Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean,” Ben Holland, the head of the airline’s operations center, told the outlet.
“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. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted,” Holland continued.
The airline said it was in contact with Space X to see if the company can “refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimize future disruption,” Holland said.
Flights on South African Airways have also been impacted, The Guardian reported.
The Independent has reached out to Qantas, South African Airways and Space X for more information.
Space X launched 134 rockets in its Falcon family in 2024.
