Wild footage shows Qantas landing in effort to resume post-cyclone flights

The pilot of a Qantas plane is being commended for a hair-raising landing at Brisbane Airport as cyclonic winds rocked the small Qantas Link craft.

YouTuber Julia Flights captured the footage against gloomy skies on Saturday, about 12 hours after Tropical Cyclone Alfred had been downgraded to a tropical low and reached mainland Queensland.

“Happy to fly with that pilot any day,” one commenter said.

“That is a pilot who is confident in (their) ability. That was a hard approach executed very well,” said another.

The video shows the “Dash 8” turboprop Qantas Link flight drifting toward the runway as wind smacks Julia Flights’ microphone.

The plane pitches uncomfortably and the nose dips a few metres above the runway. As the plane touches down, the right wing rises far above the left, before all three wheels safely hit the bitumen.

The aircraft had no passengers on board, and was one of the first planes to be relocated to Brisbane for passenger flights to resume.

The plane had come from safekeeping in Tamworth.

Qantas and Jetstar flights in and out of Brisbane were cancelled effective mid-afternoon Thursday as the cyclone inched closer to Queensland.

Domestic and international flights resumed from 6am Sunday, about 24 hours after the (downgraded) tropical low hit mainland Queensland.

In a statement Sunday morning, Qantas said while all Brisbane flights were scheduled to go ahead on Sunday, strong winds meant some planes could not be moved from their places of safekeeping, so some evening flight schedules would change.

“We are expected to progressively rebuild our schedules throughout the day,” Qantas spokesperson said.

“With forecast winds easing, from this evening we expect to be able to safely return aircraft that were moved out of the expected path of the cyclone to Brisbane and the Gold Coast airports to support the restart on Sunday,” the spokesperson said.

“Teams across the business are working to get customers in and out of southeast Queensland and northern NSW as safely and as quickly as possible and continue to work closely with the state and federal government and the relevant local airport authorities.”

The same as Qantas, Virgin cancelled all flights to and from Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay on Friday and Saturday. Multiple Virgin flights from Brisbane - to Sydney and Melbourne - have been cancelled on Sunday. Joint Virgin and Link Airways flights to Bundaberg, Tamworth, Biloela and Dubbo have also been scrapped.

A host of morning Virgin flights into the Gold Coast were canned. Virgin Australia flights shared by the likes of Singapore Airlines, Etihad, Qatar and Hawaiian airlines via Sydney and Melbourne have also been cancelled.

Flights at the Sunshine Coast are pretty much back to normal. A Jetstar flight from Auckland is the only definite casualty on Sunday, as the morning flight was cancelled. A Jetstar flight from, and then to Melbourne on Sunday afternoon, has been delayed.

Three Sydney flights to Byron Bay on Sunday have been scrapped. Those planes were due to take passengers back out of the Ballina Byron Gateway Airport too.