QF International via Darwin

[Daver6]

Darwin International passenger area is pretty awful. There's a duty free shop, a small kiosk/shop and the Catalina Lounge (which is quiet basic). Lots of hard plastic seats, and no atmosphere. Those who disembark (and from my experience a 90min stopover means everyone), will be wishing they could have stayed onboard. Qantas/NT Govt will need to invest in some passenger comforts to lift this area into similar standards of other Australian ports.

Can't imagine it would be worth their while spending a cent. DRW is a temporary measure.

 

[jrfsp]

Can't imagine it would be worth their while spending a cent. DRW is a temporary measure.

Perhaps QF will wheel out a bain-marie with a few sausage rolls.

 

[jakeseven7]

Perhaps QF will wheel out a bain-marie with a few sausage rolls.

Sausage rolls are hatted cuisine in the NT so this will probably it be restricted to ‘order only’ for P1’s, CL’s and Friends of Qantas.

 

[rigram]

Do Sausage Rolls taste better served on Marc Newson Qantas Fine Bone China...?

 

[rigram]

Today's paper: Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has left the door open to using Darwin longer term. “We want to go back to Perth-London. It was a good route for us and we’re only stopping in now because we can’t operate because the borders are going to remain closed until next year,” he said. “But Darwin, we’ll give this a go

AJ really wants to use Perth...

 

[Carrots]

Do Sausage Rolls taste better served on Marc Newson Qantas Fine Bone China...?

No, but they do taste better when served with an exquisite Neil Perry salad.

 

[dajop]

AJ really wants to use Perth...

Looking at 2016 census data, there are more Perth residents that were born in England (and presumably therefore have reasonable ties to the the country) than there are Darwin residents in total. (In fact, more Perth has more English born in absolute numbers than Melbourne, and almost as many as Sydney).

 

[justinbrett]

The market for long haul travel out of Darwin is so small - especially when you can get a quick flight to Bali or Singapore to connect with other services (back in the day, QF81/82 originated in ADL and stopped in DRW on the way to SIN). Jetstar killed off QFI and many other legacy carriers (Garuda and Malaysian just to name a few.

This was before covid. It's lunacy to think QFI can work out of Darwin unless it's just operating as a hub to consolidate domestic travellers, in which case, you may as well use Perth.

 

[flydoc]

Confirmation of agreement with NT Govt and DRW airport:

Qantas confirms Darwin as new transit hub for direct Australia-London flights

Qantas confirms it will operate its flagship direct Australia-to-London route via Darwin when international flights resume next month.

www.abc.net.au

Interesting line in the article: “Passengers will be required to...return a negative COVID-19 test prior to boarding a connecting flight to Darwin”. Suggests joining the flight in DRW may now be an option

 

[Mrmaxwell]

I wonder why SIN stopover has been pushed back to April 2022? SIN was going to be one of the first travel bubbles along with NZ only a few months ago...

 

[dajop]

I wonder why SIN stopover has been pushed back to April 2022? SIN was going to be one of the first travel bubbles along with NZ only a few months ago...

That was pre Delta. No movement on SIN opening to Australian visitors yet. Australia not opening to SIN visitors either. Singapore is also having lots of cases now too.

The priority really is the UK because of the huge number of Australians there and people in Australia with ties to the UK. With an election coming, really need to sort that country out first.

 

[Danger]

Today's paper: Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has left the door open to using Darwin longer term. “We want to go back to Perth-London. It was a good route for us and we’re only stopping in now because we can’t operate because the borders are going to remain closed until next year,” he said. “But Darwin, we’ll give this a go

AJ really wants to use Perth...

My guess is that comment was intended entirely for an audience of one.

 

[twiningb]

My guess is that comment was intended entirely for an audience of one.

Or an audience of two million in a couple of years.

 

[jb747]

Can't imagine it would be worth their while spending a cent. DRW is a temporary measure.

Temporary until they can ditch any intermediate stop entirely.

AJ really wants to use Perth...

Using the 787 with Perth as the stop killed much of the traffic out of Melbourne, so in most ways it was only a Perth - London service. I’m sure he’d like it back, but I suspect that he’d like to see Brisbane even more.

 

[Mrmaxwell]

That was pre Delta. No movement on SIN opening to Australian visitors yet. Australia not opening to SIN visitors either. Singapore is also having lots of cases now too.

The priority really is the UK because of the huge number of Australians there and people in Australia with ties to the UK. With an election coming, really need to sort that country out first.

UK just recorded 36,000 cases in a day...obviously SIN is a much smaller area but I suspect different governments dealing with reopening in very different ways.

I'm booked on QF1 in DEC...will I be allowed to disembark at DRW?

 

[Mattg]

I'm booked on QF1 in DEC...will I be allowed to disembark at DRW?

Yes. Qantas has indicated that passengers will be allowed to exit the aircraft and enter a dedicated area of the DRW terminal during the refuelling stop.

 

[clifford]

Yes. Qantas has indicated that passengers will be allowed to exit the aircraft and enter a dedicated area of the DRW terminal during the refuelling stop.

From my knowledge of DRW airport, it won't be that great of an experience...

 

[antycbr]

From my knowledge of DRW airport, it won't be that great of an experience...

At this point people won’t care. It’s to see people they haven’t seen for 2 years

 

[clifford]

At this point people won’t care. It’s to see people they haven’t seen for 2 years

Well, yes, of course. Just commenting on the wonders of DRW airport.

FWIW, my mother was killed by Covid in the UK, but as my siblings and I are mature responsible adults, we are not completely desperate to travel across the globe right now. There will be a time, however.

YMMV.

 

[dajop]

UK just recorded 36,000 cases in a day...obviously SIN is a much smaller area but I suspect different governments dealing with reopening in very different ways.

I'm booked on QF1 in DEC...will I be allowed to disembark at DRW?

I suspect Singapore would be already happy to allow fully vaccinated Australians in, but needs reciprocity from Australia to allow vaccinated Singaporeans visitors into Australia. Today SIN has announced they will allow vaccinated travellers on Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flights from South Korea, Canada and the US and several European countries (Denmark, Italy, France, Netherlands, Spain, UK), in addition to existing arrangements with Germany and Brunei. Shame Australia is not on the list, but I assume that when Australian government is ready they will be (Singapore PM mentioned a while a go that travel between Australia and Singapore will open once the politics allow it).