Qantas has confirmed it’ll function its flagship direct route from Australia to London by way of Darwin when worldwide flights resume subsequent month with the reopening of the border.
The nationwide provider has reached an settlement with the Northern Territory authorities and Darwin Airport to quickly reroute its flights from Melbourne and Sydney by Darwin.
The Darwin hub association shall be in place in time for borders reopening from November 14th till no less than April subsequent yr when London flights are scheduled to function by way of Perth once more.
Whereas it is a non permanent change to the route, Qantas mentioned it will “watch the way it performs and is open-minded about what it might result in down the observe”.
The Sydney-Darwin-London route will start on November 14th, whereas the Melbourne-Darwin-London route is presently scheduled to start on December 18th.
Nonetheless, it might begin earlier relying on discussions with the Victorian authorities on shorter quarantine preparations for returning travellers.
Qantas Group chief government, Alan Joyce, mentioned the brand new route by way of Darwin shall be made doable as a result of assist from the Northern Territory authorities who’ve been instrumental in serving to Qantas facilitate the brand new route in a put up Covid-19 working surroundings.
He added: “The Kangaroo route is without doubt one of the most iconic on the Qantas worldwide community and we’re delighted that Darwin will play an important position in Australia’s put up pandemic reopening to the world.
“Qantas has been flying repatriation providers from London to Darwin as a part of the airline’s efforts to assist convey Australians residence over the previous 12 months, so our pilots have already got intensive expertise working this explicit route.”
