Airport chaos as flights resume

UPDATE 6.15am: Qantas has resumed flights in and out of Perth this morning and Virgin is expected to follow shortly.

However WA's travel chaos will continue well into today and tomorrow as airlines address the backlog caused by the ash cloud from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano.

Almost 200 flights in and out of Perth were cancelled from 2pm yesterday after Qantas and Virgin Australia grounded all planes.

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This morning a Qantas spokeswoman said services to and from Perth would operate as scheduled today, except for a small number of flights that had been cancelled because there was no aircraft available.

“Those passengers have been advised directly, it’s basically because there have been aircraft displaced as a result of the ash cloud,” she said. “Other than that we’re operating as normal.”

Virgin Blue has cancelled all flights in and out of Perth Airport until at least 10am this morning.

A Tiger Airways spokeswoman said two flights between Perth and Melbourne had been cancelled this morning but other flights were expected to leave as scheduled.

The ash cloud did not stop the Royal Flying Doctor Service making an emergency flight to Melbourne yesterday afternoon so a three-month-old baby could get lifesaving heart surgery.

Local operators added additional flights to get fly in, fly out workers to and from mine sites before the ash cloud arrived.

Most of Perth's hotels were full or near capacity last night as they struggled to accommodate those stranded.

There are chaotic scenes at Perth airport this morning with people desperately trying to get flights.

This morning a spokeswoman from the Darwin Volcanic Ash Cloud Advisory Centre said the ash cloud would be swept "south of the continent by lunchtime".

Darwin Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre forecaster Sally Cutter said the ash cloud was now over the far south-west corner of WA.

“We’re expecting that area to clear during today, so the continent will be cloud-free by this afternoon,” she said. “But we’re still expecting the ash to be in the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean.”

Regional Director of the Northern Territory Bureau of Meteorology, Andrew Tupper, said yesterday that the cloud was being broken up by the cold fronts that have brought much needed rain to the State. "We have seen rapid breakup of the cloud and we expect the south-west corner of WA to be clear by mid morning," he said.

Many international airlines including Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Indonesia AirAsia, Malaysian Airlines, Thai International, Garuda Indonesia and Air New Zealand continued operations from Perth Airport last night by navigating under or around the densest parts of the ash cloud.

Qantas is looking at putting extra 747 flights on domestic routes to clear the backlog today and tomorrow.

Tourism Council WA said the disruption to WA's skies was costing the industry $9 million a day.

Analysts believe the disruptions across Australia are costing Qantas about $20 million day.

International airlines have used longer flight routes to get around the cloud, adding sometimes several hours to flight times.

Air New Zealand's daily flight to Perth, which usually tracks across Tasmania to Perth, flew well north over Broken Hill.

Emirates from Dubai flew to Perth via the North West Cape instead of the usual southerly track.

Other international airlines from Asia approached Perth from the north-east to avoid the worst of the ash.

Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson said that pilots had been warned to expect increased traffic below the ash cloud, with possible holding delays.