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Qantas flights from Sydney to Johannesburg are being delayed to avoid debris from SpaceX rockets burning up in the atmosphere.
The Flying Kangaroo said the timing of recent launches had often changed at late notice but that it had been in touch with the Elon Musk-backed space firm to minimise future disruption, which can last up to six hours.
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The carrier currently flies up to six times a week between the NSW capital and South Africa using its 485-capacity A380s, in what is one of its most popular services.
Last year, SpaceX launched 134 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from the US, carrying both satellites and humans into space.
While the ‘first stage’ of the rocket is fully reusable and can land with the help of automation, the second burns up in the Earth’s atmosphere after it has dispatched its payloads into space.
SpaceX often targets the Southern Indian Ocean due to its remoteness, but the stretch of water lies under the Flying Kangaroo’s flight path.
The head of Qantas’ operations centre, Ben Holland, told The Australian, “Over the past few weeks, we’ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean.
“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.’
“Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place.
“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 to our passengers on the route.”
The Falcon 9’s first stage has four landing legs made from carbon fibre and aluminium honeycomb, which deploy just before landing.
Automation, rather than human control, makes rapid control decisions that allow the touchdowns to be reliable.
However, making the second stage reusable would be considerably more difficult, given it is effectively responsible for deploying the payloads into space.
SpaceX does, though, plan to make its successor Starship rocket reusable by landing it next to the launch tower with a chopstick-style catch.
The news of delays comes after Australian Aviation reported in September how Qantas would swap out its 787-9 Dreamliners for A380s on the service.
The A380s are expected to nearly double Qantas’ capacity on the route, adding an extra 130,000 seats per year for a total of more than 280,000. According to the Flying Kangaroo, there is “strong demand” among passengers for services to South Africa.
“Qantas has a rich history of flying to South Africa over the past 72 years, having operated Constellations and Super Constellations, Electras, 707s, 747s, Dreamliners and now the A380,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said.
