Emirates will RESUME flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in a win for 38,000 stranded Aussies who are struggling to return home from overseas
- Emirates will resume passenger flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
- The Gulf carrier suspended flights last week citing ‘operational reasons’
- The move left thousands of Australian travelers unable to return from overseas
- Airline’s decision coincided with Australia slashing arrivals caps over UK strain
Emirates will resume passenger flights to Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane in a few days after shutting down routes to the east coast last week.
The Gulf airline suspended all flights to and from Australia, except Perth, on January 16 leaving thousands of Australians scrambling for a new travel plan.
The crushing development saw 19 flights per week for Australians in Europe and the Middle East wiped out, with some people already waiting months to get home.
Emirates will resume passenger flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in a few days after shutting down routes to the east coast last week citing ‘operational reasons’
The Gulf airline suspended all flights to and from Australia, except Perth, on January 16 leaving thousands of Australians scrambling for a new travel plan
Emirates cited ‘operational reasons’ for scrapping the flights but its decision coincided with Australia slashing the international arrivals cap in half on January 10.
Only half as many returned Australians were allowed in as the country tried to get a handle of how to prevent the mutant UK super-strain, which is 70 per cent more infectious, from leaking out of hotel quarantine.
The government has recently indicated the cap is set to return to normal in coming weeks.
There are still more than 38,000 Australians stranded overseas and desperate to return home, presenting a huge blow to expats and those working abroad.
The United Arab Emirates carrier was conducting daily flights between Dubai and Sydney and Melbourne as well as five flights per week to Brisbane.
Now, operations are set to return to normal in a major win for Australians struggling to get home.
Flights to Sydney will now restart from January 25. Melbourne will resume on January 26 and planes will start to land in Brisbane from January 28.
‘We regret the inconvenience caused to our customers in the period where we had to temporarily suspend our services,’ Emirates said in a statement.
‘The pandemic has made international flying incredibly challenging, and the dynamic restrictions and requirements implemented by the different state authorities in Australia had added complexity and burden to our operations.
‘This led us to temporarily suspend passenger services while we engaged with various stakeholders regarding crew protocols and other operation details.’
There are still more than 37,000 Australians stranded overseas and desperate to return home, presenting a huge blow to expats and those working abroad. Pictured: Emirates check-in Sydney
The Gulf airline suspended all flights to and from Australia, except Perth, back last week left thousands of Australians scrambling for a new travel plan. Pictured: A Passenger in Sydney is left stranded at the airport
Martha Walkowsky, who along with her husband Brian Fisher have been grounded in Dubai with their four-year-old twins, said grounding was ‘devastating.’
‘This is the closest we have ever been to getting home and we really thought it was going to work,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
‘I feel like giving up almost every day but I can’t because we have two small children and we can’t show our despair to them.’
Last week international flight caps were reduced by 50 per cent in three states – New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia – until February 15 due to the threat of a new highly transmissible ‘mutant’ strain of Covid-19 from the UK.
Passengers on all incoming international flights now need to be tested for the new strain of coronavirus before boarding flights.
A subsequent 14-day quarantine upon arrival in Australia is also now mandatory.