Qantas Airways has said it was forced to delay several flights to South Africa at the last minute due to warnings of falling debris from Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket as it re-enters Earth.
Ben Holland, director of Qantas' operations center, said the airline's flights were delayed because there was little advance notice of where the rocket would fall in the southern Indian Ocean – a re-entry zone chosen by the space company due to its remote location. He said there were many delays. On the Sydney-Johannesburg route.
“Due to advisories we have received from the US government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over large areas of the southern Indian Ocean, we have had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney over the past few weeks,” Holland said.
“While we strive to reschedule in advance, the timing of recent launches has resulted in late notice and we have had to delay some flights at the last minute before departure. We will notify customers of any changes to their flights as soon as we know they will be affected.”
Airlines receive alerts specifying geographic coordinates and re-entry timing, which can change at short notice, and sometimes even up to the time of departure.
“Customers generally understand that this is outside of the airline's control and that they cannot fly in the area while rocket reentry is occurring,” Holland said.
“We are in contact with SpaceX to see if the rocket re-entry area and time frame can be adjusted to minimize future disruption to passengers along the route.”
The Guardian understands that South African Airways flights have also been affected by SpaceX operations.
SpaceX has been contacted for comment.
