Who is flying to Australia now?

[hb13]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what are people's thoughts - about a number of airlines restarting passenger flights to Australia. It seems like all the major ME carriers have restarted services to the major cities in Australia, SQ is restarting services either this month or next month, as is Cathay Pacific.

My question is - who is on these flights? There are heavy restrictions on who can come in to Australia at the moment and I can't imagine many people being repatriated now as the majority of this has been done over March/April/May..

It just seems odd. Also, would anyone know what the numbers are regarding passengers entering the country at the moment?

 

[Denali]

My friends daughter returned from Canada on the weekend, she was working in Canada for a year. Shes currently being put up at the Sheraton Grand with a view.

Another friend works private jets, she said the other day she had 10 jets come in on the one morning, busiest shes been for a while.

 

[equus]

My question is - who is on these flights?

I think the more relevant question might be "what is in the hold" and "what is in the hold when the plane leaves again""? With the dearth of passenger traffic, their is still freight to move, and not enough dedicated freighter aircraft. Many of these flights are probably heavily reliant on freight.

 

[Mattg]

Australian citizens/permanent residents are still allowed into the country, and non-Australian residents can still leave. So I imagine there will still be some repatriation going on.

Otherwise, there will be some essential workers and people travelling for compassionate reasons. But I do agree with equus that the vast majority of revenue coming in at the moment from these flights will be with freight.

 

[samh004]

I believe if you have a valid reason/are on the exception list you can leave Australia as a citizen, but an article I read the other day suggested a quarter of applicants were denied.

Aussie expat family stranded in Airbnb for 10 weeks after COVID-19 travel ban — The Age

Sophie Smith returned to Australia with her wife and three kids to visit her dying father just before borders closed. Ten weeks later, the family is unable to leave.

apple.news

Applications for an exemption to enable outbound travel were granted in 2937 cases and denied in 1065 cases.

My parents are currently considering this situation, as they are still both overseas (haven't entered since Christmas) where they live and work. As citizens, they can come back, but their primary place of abode and employment is overseas. Under the rules, this is a valid exception but we are unsure how likely the Australian government would be to grant an exception... as they'll probably want to re-enter again in the future. I think the hope is the government transitions back to home-quarantines (as those hotel stays must be costing them a fortune) and this will make them more likely to allow them to come and go, with 14-days lockdown each time they re-enter, at home.

Then there might be a few more people on those flights.

 

[Mattg]

I didn't think Australian citizens (or anyone else) that normally reside overseas were required to get an exemption to leave Australia?

 

[dajop]

I didn't think Australian citizens (or anyone else) that normally reside overseas were required to get an exemption to leave Australia?

Correct, apparently they pull your immigration records and require proof of living overseas, but do not require an exemption to leave. The article is a bit sparse on the facts, but if she has spent more than xx_ days in Australia for the last year, she may not be considered as someone who normally resides overseas.

 

[hb13]

Does anyone realistically see the 14 day quarantine rule being relaxed before 2021?

Unless a vaccine is ready - it may still be a while?

 

[Seat0B]

I heard an interview on the ABC radio in the past couple of days specifically about Singapore flights, and the answer was there were 2 pax on board - one of whom was being interviewed on the radio, a returning Aust citizen who usually lives in Singapore whose family had exited 10 weeks ago back home but he had stayed behind to tie up the loose ends of their lives there and had finally returned home. The item was talking about the lack of cost-effectiveness of flying with less than 80% loading, but then went on to say that it was all about the freight at the moment.

 

[jakeseven7]

Heard on news that Singapore Airlines now refusing to interline with other airlines at Changi

 

[dajop]

Heard on news that Singapore Airlines now refusing to interline with other airlines at Changi

This is not new news.

“Refusing” or “not allowed”?

Of course they aren’t interlining! Singapore government has not been allowing any transit passengers at Changi for some time now (unless SG citizen or permanent resident).

They are now allowing transit, but airlines must apply for approval and have a plan in place to handle and segregate transit passengers from point to point passengers.

SQ have recently been granted approval for passengers to transit - but only covers SQ group airlines (SQ, MI and TR). They also are only allowing people to transit who arrive on services FROM Australia or New Zealand (not TO ANZ and not from any other place). Also transit and terminating passengers must be segregated on the plane, with different toilets and different crew serving them. They must disembark separately and on arrival transit passengers will be taken to a holding lounge where they will wait until escorted to their onward flight for boarding.

SQ no doubt haven’t included other airlines in this because of the restrictions, and also the paucity of both passengers and also of other airlines serving SIN at the moment .

So yes they are “refusing” but IMHO use of that particular language is an over-simplification of the situation!

 

[Flashback]

The Australian visa machine is currently running very slowly, some AU passport holders are still waiting for their other half's visa to be approved. What used to be a 30 second auto approval is now looking like 50 days.....

 

[Melburnian1]

Does anyone realistically see the 14 day quarantine rule being relaxed before 2021?

Unless a vaccine is ready - it may still be a while?

Tourism Minister Senator Birmingham was interviewed today (or yesterday) and was commenting about overseas uni students being allowed to enter Australia at some stage, but he mentioned '14 days quarantine' so the answer to your first question may be 'no.'

Post automatically merged: Jun 14, 2020

Correct, apparently they pull your immigration records and require proof of living overseas, but do not require an exemption to leave. The article is a bit sparse on the facts, but if she has spent more than xx_ days in Australia for the last year, she may not be considered as someone who normally resides overseas.

While it's irrelevant to me, historically if one resides overseas for six months plus one day in a taxation year, a person is ineligible for an Australian pension.

 

[ANstar]

Does anyone realistically see the 14 day quarantine rule being relaxed before 2021?

Unless a vaccine is ready - it may still be a while?

Borders now remain closed until mid September and I reckon it will also be extended. I'd be surprised if we see them open before Mid next year.

 

[Lynn E]

Hi All,

I was just wondering what are people's thoughts - about a number of airlines restarting passenger flights to Australia. It seems like all the major ME carriers have restarted services to the major cities in Australia, SQ is restarting services either this month or next month, as is Cathay Pacific.

My question is - who is on these flights? There are heavy restrictions on who can come in to Australia at the moment and I can't imagine many people being repatriated now as the majority of this has been done over March/April/May..

It just seems odd. Also, would anyone know what the numbers are regarding passengers entering the country at the moment?

It would be quite interesting to get more info on the whole process, the Australian press don't seem interested (I've reached out to all of them). Daily flights to and from places in Europe (including Rome and the UK), sounds like about 1/3 full of passengers. Assume most are business-related, who I understand are having companies obtains permission to leave.
Yes, Aussie citizens must get permission to leave and it isn't easy -- check out other forums for nightmare stories. My husband had a real problem getting permission to fly back to the UK (dual citizen) when he mother died unexpectedly and his father needed help. Then he returned to a horrible 2-week forced hotel quarantine, which I can only describe as in-humane. It would also be interested to get the numbers of people who are being exempt from forced hotel quarantine and allowed to do so at home, as I know of cases where this is happening.
I get that people coming from overseas have a much higher likelihood of transmitting the virus, but why are they allowed to quarantine at home -- as anyone here who is diagnosed as having the virus is allowed to do, rather than be locked up a hotel, and a much higher health risk (as they have the virus). Makes no sense. Except they are easy targets. And it is a nice boon to the local hotels.

 

[Pushka]

get that people coming from overseas have a much higher likelihood of transmitting the virus, but why are they allowed to quarantine at home -- as anyone here who is diagnosed as having the virus is allowed to do, rather than be locked up a hotel, and a much higher health risk (as they have the virus). Makes no sense. Except they are easy targets. And it is a nice boon to the local hotels

In the beginning they were allowed to isolate at home but the idiots who didn’t follow the rules messed it up for everyone else. I’m pretty sure no Government wants to spend the money for the current situation.

 

[dajop]

Then he returned to a horrible 2-week forced hotel quarantine, which I can only describe as in-humane.

It's interesting, in the comments on an article in fairfax media about the government looking at forcing people to pay for their own hotel quarantine, there was a strong weight of public opinion "why should we pay for people to stay in luxury hotels whilst so many people are suffering, and many of us can only dream of that sort of luxury"!

One thing most people would not understand, is that the room itself (at least base level room) is usually not the "luxury" part of a "luxury" hotel. I've stayed in some rooms, for example, Hilton Sydney, that would be ghastly to be stuck in for two weeks - tiny rooms, no fresh air. Would take most random country motels or caravan park cabins to be stuck in over a tiny airless room, no matter how many stars it has!

 

[love_the_life]

In the beginning they were allowed to isolate at home but the idiots who didn’t follow the rules messed it up for everyone else. I’m pretty sure no Government wants to spend the money for the current situation.

The one case we had in ACT recently of a person not being quarantined in a hotel in the city of arrival was a diplomat. The rules are strict so Aus could not insist on hotel quarantine.
There have been others who did not abide by the rules and did not properly quarantine at home, hence the enforced hotel stay at city of entry. I know it is not pleasant to be cooped up in a hotel room for 2 weeks but it is the best way at the moment.

To be back on topic, wasn't there an article in today's papers (certainly in the past day or so) about allowing business travel? Though was that out of AU or inbound?

 

[Pushka]

The one case we had in ACT recently of a person not being quarantined in a hotel in the city of arrival was a diplomat. The rules are strict so Aus could not insist on hotel quarantine.
There have been others who did not abide by the rules and did not properly quarantine at home, hence the enforced hotel stay at city of entry. I know it is not pleasant to be cooped up in a hotel room for 2 weeks but it is the best way at the moment.

To be back on topic, wasn't there an article in today's papers (certainly in the past day or so) about allowing business travel? Though was that out of AU or inbound?

Yes there was a sniff for business travel then a Nurse and Midwifery Rep scotched it. I have no idea why they became the spokesperson!

 

[Danieldj]

I say they need to hurry up and open up more international flights.. unfortunately you need to think about the economy and the amount of money we need to pay back for the stimulus packages they everyone is getting. Yeah they saved $60 billion on jobkeeper but we will be paying this downturn for the next 15-20 years!!! This is bigger then the gfc!!!

Open up and get people back to work and start paying back the taxes