Qantas plane diverts to Noumea "because of fog" at Brisbane

Even though Brisbane airport remained open! A weak excuse for an inadequate fuel load, it would seem

HEAVY and persistent fog over Brisbane has forced a Qantas flight from Los Angeles to divert to Noumea as a "fuel conservation measure".

A spokesman said after a long-haul flight it was “not ideal to be circling indefinitely” waiting for the fog to lift. He said the flight would leave Noumea about 9am and arrive into Brisbane at 10.15am.

Bureau of Meteorology Senior Forecaster Brett Harrison said the fog started forming about 3am today, gradually becoming denser. He said the fog should start clearing about 7.30am and would be gone by about 8.30am.

A Brisbane Airport Corporation spokeswoman said the fog had not affected the ability for planes to take off and land. “The fog is down the southern end, so at the moment we’re ok and there have been no diversions due to the fog,” she said. “But we are monitoring it really closely in case it shifts.”

Last week Qantas came under fire for allegedly pressuring pilots to cut costs by taking on less fuel. The strategy was blamed for two diversions of Qantas flights because of low fuel.

Qantas has emphatically denied pressuring pilots to carry less fuel but it has admitted to encouraging pilots to monitor how much fuel they put on board their aircraft. The airline has imposed a series of increases in fuel surcharges this year as a result of soaring world oil prices.

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