EK suspending flights from East Coast Oz
 

...due to operational reasons. Surprised it took this long.

Cargo only flights on the 777 will continue.

The share of pax inbound is minuscule when spread around now.

Chinese carriers are full going out. CZ filling an A380 out of a Melbourne each day.

I wonder who all these people (500) are that are leaving each day, considering Australian citizens can’t leave. There's a ban on overseas travel from Australia. You can’t leave Australia unless you get an exemption from the Department of Home Affairs.

If you have "another" passport, you can leave

Are you sure about that?

My wife, a permanent resident but not yet holding Australian citizenship, can not leave without applying for and being granted an exemption.
That is, she is not even an Australian citizen and she can not leave.
If she does gain the exemption and is able to leave then she will almost certainly not be able to return.

It's difficult to imagine 500 Melbournians per day gaining that exemption.

It’s not that simple.
BF check the number of days you have spent in Australia in the past 2 years to consider whether you can claim you are a resident of another country or not. Not just passport/Permanent ID card holder.
Although I predominantly resided and worked overseas for the past 20 odd years, for various reasons I travelled back and forth regularly in the past 2 years, making them question whether I was really resident in another country.
I was stopped from departing initially until further evidence and proof of employment was provided.

Seeing it’s only a undefined suspension my belief is this is a ploy by EK to get the oz government to subsidise them which in typical fashion they will.
The Australian government would rather have Australian crew stood down and spend the money to subsidise foreign carriers in the name of competition than to get us all back to work.

McCormack can then continue to call all of us lounge lizards for not getting another job And remaining on jobkeeper. :rolleyes:

The Federal Government needs to step up and ensure that our citizens are repatriated ASAP. It’s a legal requirement to do so btw. The only airline that has the capability and enforces the strictest quarantine regime under the guidance of Australian state and federal authorities is QANTAS. Why have a national airline with the capability and not use it? Our government would rather put subsidised state owned airlines ahead of its own national airline in order to save a few bucks. So to the people stuck overseas with no way of getting home, you can thank your Australian Government for this hypocritical policy. If you’re a tennis player you’re welcome but an average Joe or Jolene Blow piss off and wait.

For the journos that read this forum.
Qantas crew that fly internationally are required to remain in their room whilst overseas. That is upon leaving the aircraft they travel directly to the hotel, close their room door and don’t leave their room until reporting for the next flight. Overseas based carrier’s crew are free to roam around under the guidance of their state rules once back in their country of origin. For Qantas crew, upon arrival back in OZ it’s straight home or a hotel for the mandatory 14 day quarantine period or their next duty whichever comes first.

apparently Emirates had 2 crew test positive last week upon arrival.

Troo believer
Not a legal requirement. What is your legislation reference?

Vag227.... trying to understand your question? Is it pertaining to Qantas crew or overseas crew?
in the case of Qantas, break the rules at your peril. International crew March to the beat of a completely different drum.
As noted by troo

https://www.unhcr.org/uk/3bfe68d32.pdf

Pretty sure thats wrong if you are PR of australia you need permission to leave. Not sure what they would a do if you left on another passport but you must get permission to leave

If you are an Australian citizen or a permanent resident you cannot leave Australia due to COVID-19 restrictions unless you have an exemption. You can apply online but you must meet at least one of the following:

I think you’ll find most QF International crew have no interest in spending their life locked in hotel room away from their families. QF wouldn’t be able to crew much of an increase in flying so the Aus government may as well subsidise EK.

Absolute garbage flyboy......That’s why their eoi was oversubscribed :ugh:

Ummm ... that only applies to refugees

The 1951 Refugee Convention defines a refugee as: “someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Troo believer
Irrelevant. What Australian legislation applies?

International law states no country will deny its citizens entry at the border. If we can get home, they have to let us in.

It’s also basic human decency to want to look after your citizens. A concept you find hard to grasp

EK aren’t “fishing for a subsidy” 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Why are they still flying to Perth then?

It’s most likely because of the testing requirements for crew on arrival, something WA doesn’t do....
(which is a good thing by the way).

Its not “500 a day”. If you looked at the schedule you’ll find the flights only run once or twice a week.

As for leaving the country.
- if you have residency in another country (visa) they’ll let you go.
- if you can prove you have a family emergency etc they’ll let you go
- business people are ok of course....

HOWEVER the “family emergency” example (and others) they also expect you to sign a declaration saying you won’t return for at least 3 months.

But the massive issue with all of this is, they let citizens leave knowing that there ARE NOT enough quarantine spaces for them to return. Let alone the other Aussies already waiting to get back.

SQ are continuing flights to Australia so there is a way for Aussies to get home, and Singapore needs to maintain its links with the outside world as it’s not self sufficient in many areas such as food production.

With QF not being a hub airline, it’s unable to concentrate pax and cargo loads from multiple destinations and would have to operate virtually empty direct flights which would be hugely expensive. Better to let another country bear the cost. The postal links are maintained, important cargo can still be delivered and the handful of pax who absolutely must travel are accommodated.

SIA crew are subject to very strict precautions including full PPE, confinement to their hotel rooms on layovers, wearing an electronic tracker and a COVID test on their return followed by more testing at regular intervals.

Vaccinations are already in progress for Singapore aircrews.

The right of return to your own country is a basic human right and Australia should be obliged to accept any citizen who wants to enter even if it means emergency quarantine facilities run by the army need to be provided.

This is a link to Wikipedia so it can’t be taken as definite however the article has links to official websites.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_return