SOME passengers have been stranded and many others delayed after Melbourne Airport flights were grounded by "technical issues" in the control tower.
All flights were temporarily grounded as technicians worked to fix the issue.
Flights resumed shortly after 9.30am, but passengers have been warned to expect significant delays.
Carmel Purdey, of Doncaster East, said her relatives were stranded in Sydney.
"Well, a family with two young children have been travelling for 52 hours and now they're stuck in Sydney and I'm due at work," she said.
The family was flying from the US to Melbourne to spend Christmas with Mrs Purdey and her family. The primary school principal said the flight was already late and she had no idea when they would arrive.
"It's been a significant disruption to the family," she said.
At 10.40am one passenger in the Qantas terminal, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff told them to expect further delays.
"We've been told to expect to wait on the tarmac for at least 30 minutes," he said.
Kenan Dzakic had flown in from Canberra and said he wasn't too badly affected.
"We were affected by about 20 minutes. We were just flying around in the air," he said.
Alan Goodwin, 26, had flown in from Auckland and said he was about 15 minutes late.
"There were people on the flight who had immediate connecting flights," he said.
The control tower is operated by Airservices Australia.
An airport spokeswoman said: "Passengers are advised to expect delays to flights arriving and departing Melbourne this morning due to technical issues at our control tower.
"As a safety precaution all traffic into and out of Melbourne has been slowed down.
"Flow-on delays to the national air traffic network are expected.
"We thank the travelling public for their patience as we work to resolve the technical issues as soon as possible.
"Passengers are advised to check with their airline for further information."
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