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..