Fog on Monday Morning Causes Diversions from Interior Parts of CQ - Emerald and Moranbah Airports

Early on Monday 2 June, fog and low cloud rolled into parts of Central Queensland causing some minor disruptions to operations, including a couple of diversions from Moranbah and Emerald Airports.

VH-UZI diverted into Gladstone earlier this year  (File photo taken by Jamie  ©)

At Moranbah, at least two QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 flights diverted to Mackay after being unable to land due to the fog, while the morning Virgin Australia Regional Airlines (VARA) ATR 72 services spent significant time in holding patterns before landing.

From various Internet resources it appears VH-LQB (QLK2452) and VH-QOT (QLK2448) both diverted to Mackay, and both later positioned back to Brisbane empty.  VARA ATR 72-500s VH-FVL (VOZ1661) and VH-FVM (VOZ1663) spent time circling Moranbah before landing.  Other flights appeared to be unaffected.

At Emerald, the early morning QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 service, along with the early Toll Freight Aviation flight from Biloela / Thangool Airport, were both unable to land and both diverted to Rockhampton Airport.  Another QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 VH-QOD (QLK2402) and a VARA ATR 72 were also noted to hold away from the field before landing.

QantasLink Dash-8-Q400 VH-QOS operating as QLK2400 diverted to Rocky.  It then flew to Emerald, before returning to Brisbane as QLK2401.  Toll Metro III Expeditor VH-UZI - operating as TFX108 - also diverted to Rockhampton and later flew to Emerald.

The diversions into Moranbah and Emerald all caused flow on effects on the QantasLink and Virgin Australia schedules during the day with some delays noted on flights out of Brisbane.