Perth Airport main runway torn up by Qantas flight QF71

Qantas regularly flies in and out of Perth Airport.

Urgent repairs are being made to Perth Airport’s main runway after a Qantas plane tore up the tarmac during takeoff.

A video posted to X showed Qantas flight QF71 moving along the runway around 12.15pm on Sunday, preparing to take off and fly to Singapore. As the aircraft moved along, large fragments of the runway appeared to be torn off behind the plane and fly into the air.

Runway three was only partly operational that afternoon and evening after urgent repairs were made by the airport’s maintenance staff, The West Australian reported. Planes arriving at Perth Airport had to be assigned a new runway or diverted, as was the case with a 747 freighter that headed to Adelaide.

Qantas and Perth Airport are reportedly investigating the incident and an exact cause is yet to be confirmed.

The moment the pavement was torn from the ground was filmed by a planespotter, who took a video of the Qantas aircraft taking off.

“Drama at Perth Airport this afternoon as a Qantas A330 rips up part of the newly relaid section of runway 03,” the person captioned the video on X.

Drama at Perth Airport this afternoon as a Qantas A330 rips up part of the newly relaid section of runway 03.
There was a Silkway B748-8F due to land after this & now was diverted to Adelaide. @flightradar24 @webflite
📹 - via @Keg767 pic.twitter.com/t7cVCFqO4S

— Alex 🇭🇲 (@speedbird020) September 15, 2024

The damage did not result in any flight cancellations or significant delays and the Airbus A330 departed to Singapore without issue.

The damaged segment of the runway was reportedly freshly laid as part of a new runway project.

Perth Airport also made headlines on Sunday after a 33-year-old man was finally charged for forcing a plane to dump fuel and return to the airport.

The traveller has been forced to pay Jetstar about A$5800 ($6315) for fuel and fined an additional A$6000 following an incident in September 2023. His behaviour was not described by authorities but was bad enough to force pilots to stop the journey to Sydney and return to Perth, cancelling the flight.

Reports suggested the man was disruptive and intoxicated and locked himself in the plane toilet.