Australian airline Qantas was forced to postpone several flights to South Africa this week. The reason for this was a sudden warning that debris from the launch vehicle of the American aerospace company SpaceX was expected to fall in the flight zone of the company’s aircraft.
Image source: SpaceX
Elon Musk-owned SpaceX chose the southern Indian Ocean as a disposal site due to its remote location. However, the area is important to Qantas as routes from Sydney to Johannesburg pass through it. Qantas head of operations Ben Holland, commenting on the issue, said that the airline is often not informed in advance about the time of the fall of launch vehicle debris, which periodically leads to flight delays.
According to the source, debris from SpaceX rockets falling from space is also affecting South African Airways, which also has some routes across the southern Indian Ocean. It is possible that the activities of the American company have a similar impact on other air carriers.