Melbourne Airport terminal evacuated, travel chaos after suspected fire; Qantas flight delays

Operations have slowly resumed at Melbourne Airport after a fire broke out in one of the terminals on Friday, leaving hundreds of passengers in the dark.

Fire Rescue Victoria and Aviation Fire Fighting and Rescue Services responded to reports of a fire at Terminal 1 shortly after 7pm. Less than an hour later, the fire was under control but hundreds of passengers were evacuated to the highway.

“The fire was completely extinguished. The terminal – Terminal 1 only – was evacuated in response to fire alarms,” ​​a Melbourne Airport spokesman said at 8.40pm.

“Emergency services have made it safe to partially reopen the terminal and restart operations. We are now supporting passengers as they return to the terminal and operations continue.

“We thank travelers for their patience and cooperation throughout the disruption.”

Fire crews came to the scene upon notice and extinguished the ‘small-scale fire’. “The incident was brought under control at 19.39,” a FRV spokesman said in a statement on Friday night.

Although the terminal began to reopen to passengers, serious delays were still expected for Qantas flights.

Since the incident, Qantas flights landing in Melbourne have had to line up on the tarmac to land.