Travel
Rocket debris from Elon Musk’s SpaceX is delaying flights in this part of the world
One airline said it often gets little notice of when or where it can expect rockets to fall from the sky so flights have been delayed to ensure safety.
Delayed flights are nothing new, but Australian airline Qantas has come up with a rather novel excuse for late departures. It says its services between Sydney and Johannesburg are being delayed because of falling space junk.
The flights cross a portion of the southern Indian Ocean that US launch company SpaceX has earmarked for the splashdown of re-entering rockets.
Qantas says it often gets little notice of when or where it can expect rockets to fall from the sky, and as such, has regularly delayed flights to ensure safety.
“Over the past few weeks we‘ve had to delay several flights between Johannesburg and Sydney due to advice received from the US Government regarding the re-entry of SpaceX rockets over an extensive area of the Southern Indian Ocean,” Qantas told Euronews Travel.
“While we try to make any changes to our schedule in advance, the timing of recent launches have moved around at late notice which has meant we’ve had to delay some flights just prior to departure. Our teams notify customers of changes to their flight as soon as we know it will be impacted.”
How long are the space junk delays?
“In the past few weeks, many flights have departed late in both directions, some more than five hours late, with the obvious knock-on impacts of this,” commented Dr James Pearson, a flight route analyst.
“It is unclear whether all or only some of the delays relate to the SpaceX debris. Nonetheless, like all airlines, Qantas revolves around safety, and it took precautionary action.”
Comparing notes between flight tracking service Flightradar 24 and SpaceX’s calendar of launches, there does seem to be a correlation between delayed flights and Falcon 9 launches.
For example, a flight on January 10, set to depart Johannesburg at 5:15 pm was delayed by five and a half hours, eventually taking off at 10:41pm. That same day, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with 21 Starlink satellites onboard from Cape Canaveral at 2:11 pm local time, just a couple of hours after the flight was due to take off.
How much space junk does a SpaceX rocket produce?
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has famously developed a reusable rocket it calls the Falcon 9. The first stages return to Earth to be used again, but a huge 3.5-tonne upper section remains in orbit, joining the swarms of space debris that circle the planet.
Eventually, it falls back to Earth, burning up in the atmosphere in the process. But these aluminium rocket parts aren’t always destroyed on re-entry. Numerous reports have been made of pieces of Falcon 9 rockets turning up on beaches and even in people’s homes.
In November 2015, a piece of a Falcon 9 measuring 10 metres by four metres washed up on the shores of the Scilly Isles in the UK.
A piece of debris from a Falcon 9 launch crashed into a private farm in central Washington in 2021. The piece was described as being 1.5 metres long and cylindrical, and it made a crater in the ground around 13 cm deep.
Just last year, multiple pieces of debris were discovered throughout the mountains of North Carolina, which were subsequently confirmed to be from a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.
And in 2022, junk found in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, was confirmed to be of SpaceX origin.
The company has set up a hotline for anyone discovering debris from SpaceX spacecraft, explaining that, “If you believe you have identified a piece of debris, please do not attempt to handle or retrieve the debris directly. Instead, please either email or leave a voicemail here with your name, number and a brief description of what you have discovered and where.”
Is space junk affecting other flights and is it dangerous?
Very few airlines connect Australia and South Africa. Just two carriers have direct flights – Qantas and South African Airways (SAA). But Qantas flies to Sydney, in the southeast of Australia, while SAA connects to Perth on the west coast.
Because of the differences in destinations, only Qantas takes a route that puts it in the path of falling debris.
“Qantas’ Sydney-Johannesburg Airbus A380 service follows a very southerly route,” Dr Pearson explained. “As South African Airways’ Johannesburg-Perth service follows a much more northerly route, it seems that only Qantas has primarily been impacted.”
But is space junk really dangerous for commercial air travel? While there may not have been an immediate danger to Qantas flights, airlines tend to operate out of an abundance of caution, so would always rather delay a flight than take unnecessary risks.
“Customers generally understand this is outside of airlines’ control and that we can’t fly in the area when the rocket re-entry is taking place,” a Qantas spokesperson told Euronews Travel. “We’re in contact with SpaceX to see if they can refine the areas and time windows for the rocket re-entries to minimise future disruption to our passengers on the route.”
It would be very unlucky for a piece of space junk, even one several metres across, to hit an aircraft flying at hundreds of kilometres an hour. But it could happen, and should that piece of junk puncture the fuselage or enter the engine, it could be disastrous.
For Qantas, the situation is somewhat controlled as it receives warnings specifying geographical locations and timings of re-entry. But not all re-entries go to plan, which creates a risk for other airlines that might not be so well informed.
The Aerospace Corporation states that some 200 – 400 pieces of space debris fall to Earth each year – and those are just the ones that are big enough to track. That problem is only going to get worse as more nations look to send satellites into space.
As well as rocket bodies, dead satellites are also a problem the world will soon have to face. SpaceX alone has already put more than 7,000 satellites into orbit and plans to grow this fleet to 34,000. As these spacecraft come to the end of their service life, they too will be deorbited and fall to Earth.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is working on legislation around space debris, but it’s a tricky situation that likely won’t be resolved soon.
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By Euronews Travel
Published on
Norway is set to become the latest European destination to introduce a tourist tax to combat concerns about rising visitor numbers.
Lawmakers approved the new levy on Thursday, which allows municipalities to introduce a 3 per cent tax on overnight stays in “areas particularly affected by tourism”.
The law allows local authorities to apply the tax at their own discretion, and it will be added to accommodation charges. Authorities will also be allowed to adjust the percentage based on the season.
The funds raised by the tax will be used exclusively to improve tourism infrastructure projects that benefit both visitors and local people. Municipalities will have to demonstrate that their facilities are inadequate and have their plans approved by the government to spend the funds.
Cecilie Myrseth, Norway’s minister of trade and industry, said on social media that her government had reached a “historic agreement” to introduce a tourism tax that was “in line with what they have in the rest of Europe”.
The country is the latest in a string of European nations introducing or increasing visitor levies to tackle the growing problem of overtourism. A tax may also be applied to cruise ships that make stops in the country, particularly in areas that are most affected by overtourism.
Norway is experiencing a tourism boom
As tourists increasingly choose cooler, northern European destinations to get away from the heat, Norway has experienced a boom in visitor numbers.
Last year, a record-breaking 38.6 million people booked accommodation in the country. That includes more than 12 million overnight stays by foreign tourists – a 4.2 per cent increase from 2023.
Some previously quiet destinations have been overwhelmed, like the Lofoten islands, where eye-catching images of hiking trails posted on social media have led to an influx of visitors. With a population of 24,500 people distributed across several small towns and villages, keeping up with the cost of all these new visitors has been hard.
A recent survey by industry organisation Norwegian Tourism Partners found that 77 per cent of people in Tromsø, in northern Norway above the Arctic Circle, thought there were too many tourists there. Visitors have been drawn by the Northern Lights, wildlife excursions, Sami cultural experiences and what the city itself has to offer.
The increase in tourism has caused tension with local residents across Norway as infrastructure has struggled to keep up with the boom. Facilities like public toilets and car parks have been overwhelmed in popular destinations.
Some residents have even reported cases of people using their back gardens as toilets, and bemoaned the increased traffic clogging up Norway’s roads.
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As millions of holidaymakers prepare to head to the Canary Islands this summer, authorities have issued a wildfire pre-alert across the archipelago.
The warning, announced by the General Directorate of Emergencies on Sunday, applies to tourist hotspots El Hierro, La Palma, La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria.
It comes as the islands enter a high-risk fire period following the wet season, as hot, dry winds known as the ‘calima’ begin blowing in from the Sahara Desert.
Fires are common, but they haven’t slowed tourism
The risk of wildfire is nothing new for the Canary Islands.
The volcanic terrain, Mediterranean climate and fire-adapted vegetation – plants that have evolved to thrive in fire-prone environments – make them susceptible to summer blazes, and scientists say wildfires are part of the archipelago’s ecological rhythm.
Some of the worst occurred in 2023, when forest fires ravaged Tenerife, destroying more than 15,000 hectares of land and forcing 12,000 people to evacuate. The blaze was later found to have been started by arsonists.
This year, officials are urging tourists and locals alike to take extreme caution, warning against launching fireworks near forests and discarding cigarettes on dry ground.
But even as the fire warnings roll in, the Canaries’ appeal shows no signs of slowing down.
In 2024, the islands welcomed nearly 18 million tourists, including a record-breaking 15.5 million international arrivals. Among them, British travellers led the way, recording 6.3 million visits – up 500,000 from 2023.
Concerns about overtourism mount amid record arrivals
While the Canary Islands continue to attract record numbers of tourists, residents are increasingly voicing concerns about overtourism.
In April 2024, tens of thousands of islanders participated in protests, holding signs that read “the Canary Islands have a limit” while rallying against rising housing costs, environmental damage and the strain on public services.
Over Easter this year, about 80,000 hospitality workers in Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and El Hierrowalked out in a dispute with unions over pay.
The surge in short-term rentals has been especially contentious. Locals have reported getting priced out of their neighbourhoods as properties are converted into holiday lets, the cost of living soars and wages stagnate.
Despite these concerns, tourism remains a significant part of the Canary Islands’ economy, accounting for approximately 35 per cent of its GDP.
Tenerife still reigns supreme
After welcoming seven million tourists in 2024, Tenerife remains the most visited island.
Its year-round sunshine and wide beaches keep it a firm favourite among families, especially during the UK’s summer school break and throughout the winter months.
As the peak summer season picks up, local tourism boards have made no indication that the fire pre-alerts will disrupt travel plans.
But authorities remain focused on prevention this year.
More than 2,000 firefighters are on standby. Meanwhile, the government has distributed detailed safety advice, urging people to prepare a go-bag, stay informed and follow emergency evacuation or shelter-in-place instructions if fires erupt.
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Travel
Violent turbulence hits Ryanair flight in Germany, forcing an emergency landing and injuring 9
By Euronews Travel with AP
Published on
Severe storms in southern Germany forced a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing late Wednesday after violent turbulence injured nine people on board, German police said in a statement Thursday.
The flight, travelling from Berlin to Milan with 179 passengers and six crew members, encountered turbulence so intense around 8:30 pm that the pilot was forced to make an unscheduled landing at Memmingen Airport in Bavaria.
Eight passengers and one crew member were hurt.
Three people were taken to the hospital in Memmingen for treatment; the other injured people were released after receiving outpatient treatment. As a precaution, all passengers were checked for injuries by the emergency services.
Authorities did not permit the plane to continue flying, and the airline arranged bus transport for passengers. Milan is about 380 kilometres south of Memmingen.
More bad weather expected in Germany
Elsewhere in the region, storms damaged several homes in Ulm, Baden-Württmberg, according to the German news agency dpa.
In the Donaustetten district, strong winds tore roofs off multiple row houses, rendering them uninhabitable, though no injuries were reported. Fire officials suspect a small tornado or waterspout caused the damage. The German Weather Service (DWD) is investigating, according to dpa.
Storm-related emergency calls also came from other areas in southern Germany, where damage was mostly limited to fallen trees and flooded basements.
The DWD warned of further storms on Thursday, 5 June, with hail, strong winds, and localised heavy rain expected.
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