A Qantas domestic service bound for Adelaide was forced to divert and land at the Royal Australian Air Force Edinburgh base in South Australia on Thursday evening as extreme weather battered the region.
The Melbourne-to-Adelaide flight, QF691, encountered powerful winds and adverse conditions that made a safe landing at Adelaide Airport untenable, prompting the crew to execute a diversion to the military airfield.
The Boeing 737 aircraft had already begun its final approach when pilots encountered strong gusts of up to 72 km/h, generating turbulence and instability that made continuing the landing unsafe under civil aviation criteria.
Passengers reported feeling abrupt movements and turbulence as the plane aborted its landing attempt and climbed toward the RAAF facility. After a controlled touchdown at Edinburgh, the aircraft remained on the ground for several hours. Flight crew coordinated with ground services to refuel and assess weather trends during this unscheduled stop, before continuing to Adelaide once conditions improved.
Qantas acknowledged the disruption and reiterated that passenger safety is its top priority. The airline is assisting affected customers and ensuring they reached their intended destination later that evening, with the flight ultimately landing at Adelaide Airport around 8:10 pm local time.
The diversion occurred against the backdrop of broader severe weather in South Australia, which included widespread wind-related outages and infrastructure impacts across the Adelaide metropolitan area.
Aviation authorities say the incident is consistent with routine safety protocols and is not expected to trigger a formal safety investigation, as conditions required immediate operational judgment by the flight crew.
