Straight out of 'Airport'

The Sydney Airport on Thursday resembled a scene taken straight out of Arthur Hailey’s Airport. Known to be always teeming with air traffic rush, the international airport bore a deserted look on Thursday evening.

All the activities had come to a standstill and there was not a single soul visible on the massive tarmac, just like the depiction of the storm-hit airport in the American author’s fiction.

The authorities had either cancelled and rescheduled the flights. Most outgoing passengers had no clue as to when, rather whether, they can reach their destinations. Reason: Thunderstorm.

A storm with over 15 nautical miles per hour had hit the city forcing the ground engineers and staff to come indoors.

 “We fear the lightning might strike people working on the tarmac,” said an official. Once the storm cleared, it did not take much time for normalcy to return. A three-hour non-stop could have wrecked a bigger havoc in other parts of the world but not here. As in Hailey’s Airport, the airport staff here swung into action and set things right.

They may even have done things faster than the 15 nautical miles per hour.