Awkward detail in Taylor’s Sydney arrival
While Taylor Swift’s private jet was able to land in Sydney with minimal delay, several commercial flights scheduled to arrive at the same time were cancelled, delayed and diverted due to heavy storm weather in the city.
The tarmac at Sydney airport was closed for about two hours on Monday afternoon due to thunderstorms and lighting strikes in the area.
This diverted at least three flights to Canberra or Brisbane and cancelled one Sydney-Perth return flight and three others between Sydney and Melbourne.
Multiple other domestic flights were delayed.
Meanwhile, Swift’s private jet touched down in Sydney airport just before 1.30pm, after only a roughly 20-minute delay.
A Sydney Airport spokesperson confirmed the heavy storm activity had caused “flight delays, cancellations and diversions”.
“We encourage passengers to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight,” they said.
The superstar departed Melbourne about midday on Monday ahead of her next four-day run of shows in her Eras Tour, with severe thunderstorms hammering Sydney around the same time.
Loud claps of thunder and a downpour of rain rattled the city just before 1pm, when Swift’s flight was scheduled to land, but the storm had calmed by about 2.30pm.
The flight was delayed by a little over 20 minutes, with more than 3000 fans watching on FlightRadar24.
Swift’s jet pulled into a hangar in the airport, so that she could leave the plane to privately go to her hotel in the city.
After landing, she joined a convoy of cars where she is believed to have been taken to a penthouse at Crown in Barangaroo.
The pop superstar, 34, will perform four shows in Sydney from Friday before she heads off to Singapore.
During her final show in Melbourne on Sunday, she revealed she would be revising her rule of never performing the same acoustic ‘Surprise Song’ more than once on her Eras Tour.
“I want to be as creative as possible with the acoustic set moving forward and I don’t want to limit anything or say, “If I played this song, I can’t play it again,” she said.
“So, from now on, I don’t want to take any paint colours out of the paintbox or tools out of the toolbox.
“I want to be able to play songs more than once if I feel like it and I want to be able to make changes to songs. Does that sound OK?”
The crowd erupted in applause.
