Broome travellers forced to sleep on Geraldton Airport floor after fog causes overnight flight chaos

Passengers on multiple flights to Perth were left stranded at different regional airports on Tuesday night after a heavy fog descended and made it impossible for the planes to land safety at the state’s main airport.

Three flights, one from Broome, one from Port Hedland and one from Newman, were diverted to Geraldton, a flight from Canberra was diverted to Kalgoorlie, and one from Adelaide was diverted to Busselton.

Passengers were left stranded at Geraldton Airport on Tuesday night.

Those on the flights from Broome and Newman were left to sleep at Geraldton airport overnight due to flight crews reaching their limit on the hours they could work.

One of the passengers on the flight from Broome, Kim Nicholls, told Radio 6PR there had been no communication from Qantas.

She said they were told by flight crew at around 2am they would be spending the night at the airport due to a lack of available accommodation in the area.

“[It was] six degrees with people dressed in their Broome clothes trying to sleep somewhere,” she said.

“People have missed their connecting flights to overseas destinations. People couldn’t get their phones to work due to poor connection.”

Nicholls said people were sleeping on chairs, or cardboard boxes on the floor, and that she had only managed to get an hour’s sleep.

Still at Geraldton airport on Wednesday morning, she said the passengers had been told there was a flight ready to take her and the others back to Perth.

Qantas released a statement confirming a number of flights were diverted away from Perth overnight due to fog around the airport making it unsafe to land.

“The crew on two flights that had diverted to Geraldton were unable to continue to Perth due to reaching the limit on the hours they can work,” they said.

Flight QF1657 from Broome was meant to land in Perth on Tuesday night, but was diverted to Geraldton instead due to heavy fog.Credit:FlightAware

“We attempted to find last-minute accommodation for all customers of these flights but unfortunately, due to a shortage of available hotel rooms, customers stayed in the airport terminal overnight.

“We apologise to these customers. We thank them for their understanding. We know this would have been an uncomfortable night, but the conditions were not safe to land in Perth and our crew couldn’t safely continue.”

It comes after a similar incident this month, when a night flight from Broome to Perth was delayed for hours.

Travellers boarding the flight were forced to stay on-board the aircraft with no air-conditioning, lighting and a lack of water before being kicked out of Broome Airport due to its closure.

One passenger, Bella, told Radio 6PR that after four hours on the tarmac, the passengers had to disembark and were told to “fend for themselves” as the entire cabin crew and pilots got in taxi’s to leave.

“A flight from Broome to Perth was cancelled on Friday night due to an issue with the Ground Power Unit (GPU), which was unable to be rectified by our on-site engineer and required an alternative GPU to be sourced,” Qantas said at the time.

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