Only 25 passengers on my SYD-Alice Springs on Oct 27

[luxury-lizard]

So the NT border opened to Sydney-siders on Oct 9 - so we re-confirmed our trip to The Center made back in June. After QF changed the date twice (from the 27th to the 28th then back to the 27th) then the day before QF changed the time by 1.5 hours - we finally got on our flight. To our amazement - there were only 25 passengers - I felt really really sorry for QF - the border is open and no one is travelling.

While I realise it's now the off-season - Alice is pretty quite, we're here for a few days then Kings Canyon for 2 days then the grand hurrah - Longitude 131 for 3 days. The weather so far has been great particularly after the rainy cold days in Sydney just before we left.

Where is everyone else ???

 

[offshore171]

Where is everyone else ???

What sort of plane were they running?

I’m not surprised at the low loading. The border has just been opened so there would be few forward bookings.
It’s not school holidays, HSC in full swing.

Give it a month and see what happens to the loadings.

 

[luxury-lizard]

Sorry did not pay attention to the type of plane (unlike most on AFF) - but full size if that makes any sense - 30+ rows of 3*3.

 

[Mattg]

Sorry did not pay attention to the type of plane (unlike most on AFF) - but full size if that makes any sense - 30+ rows of 3*3.

If this was QF790 on the 27th, it was a Boeing 737-800 with 174 seats (VH-XZI to be exact)

 

[nutwood]

Alice in October? I've done that trip for work and it was a very empty plane. I remember it because it was one of only two times where I've had J totally to myself. The other was Alice to Adelaide in February.
In reality, October is quite pleasant in Alice but didn't seem to be popular.

 

[luxury-lizard]

yes, but these are unusual times - people don't have many options for travel outside of their own state plus there is a sentiment that Aussies should support the travel industry. The weather here has been excellent - low's in the teens and highs between 30-35C - but with the low humidity it's really very pleasant. Anyway - we've done the local tourist sites (e.g. Royal Flying Doctor Museum, ++) - Simpons's Gap and some local walks today, Stanley Chasm tomorrow - then off to King's Canyon the day after.

Mr LL and I are migrants (40+ years ago - from Canada and Germany) - I can say we've seen much more of Australia than most born & bred Aussies. (Of course we now consider ourselves real Aussies). This is at least our fifth visit to the centre - we've also bent the Kimberly's at least 6 times and FNQ 15+ times.

As an aside - I just saw that QF have launched a "travel to somewhere" with the first package SYD - Uluru - for one night at Sails in the Desert for $2499 pp in Y - gee whizz - if you price this out as a DIY package it's at least half the price.