Hardline state border stance ‘holding Australia back’: Emirates

The local head of Emirates has warned Australia is falling behind the northern hemisphere because of the hard border stance of some state premiers.

Emirates estimates it would be ‘at least 2023’ before the airline reinstates its 2019 schedule of three flights a day to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

The local head of one of the world’s biggest airlines has warned the country is falling behind the northern hemisphere because of the hard border stance of some state premiers.

Emirates divisional vice-president Barry Brown said the reluctance of Australia to fully reopen would likely delay the return of international travel to pre-Covid levels.

Although NSW and Victoria were on the right track, he said Queensland and Western Australia were holding the country back.

“(Former NSW premier) Gladys Berejiklian did a great job and then Dominic Perrottet raised it to new levels and gave us all some hope,” Mr Brown said.

“Victoria is making the right noises but Queensland and Western Australia are going to keep us quite a way behind.”

As a result, Mr Brown estimated it would be “at least 2023” before Emirates reinstated its 2019 schedule of three flights a day to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

“There’s a lot of pent-up demand. The youth think they’re bulletproof so they’ve started booking already and other people are planning from mid-2022,” Mr Brown said.

“We’ve announced our daily services from Sydney will be increasing (in capacity) to an A380 from December 2, and we’ll be going daily from Melbourne from December 1 using Boeing 777s.”

Throughout the pandemic Emirates maintained two to three flights a week to Perth and Brisbane, and was expected to continue to operate at that level until border restrictions were eased. “We’re not really too sure when that might be but when they’re ready we’ll be ready to jump in,” Mr Brown said.

Emirates Australasia divisional vice-president Barry Brown says Australia is already lagging the rest of the world in reopening to travellers. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

It was not only border restrictions threatening to clip Emirates’ wings but a global shortage of skilled airline workers due to large-scale lay-offs and a lack of new workers being trained.

Mr Brown said all carriers were affected as airlines ramped up at the same time.

“If someone said to me in August, ‘Victoria will record 2000 cases a day but we’ll be open by November 1’, I would’ve said ‘you need to see your psychoanalyst’,” he joked.

“We’re really growing out of this pandemic rapidly, and getting staff on board is a challenge for everybody.”

Just as Qantas’s 100-year birthday celebrations were trashed by the pandemic, Emirates also delayed marking its 25-year anniversary of Australian operations last year.

But Mr Brown saw no reason why the Dubai-based airline would not continue to be a favourite for Australian travellers.

“We still see lots of life in the hub concept,” he said.

“Point to point is difficult to reach from Australia – we’re a long way away from many of the places people want to go to. I see (Qantas CEO) Alan Joyce has pushed back his dates for ultra-longhaul travel so let’s see where that goes, but at the moment the hub is alive and well.”

Travellers flying with the Gulf carrier would notice some changes at Dubai Airport and on board the aircraft as a result of the pandemic.

Advanced biometric technology meant passengers could check-in, complete their immigration requirements and go to the gate without human contact. And, like Australia, face masks are required in airports and on flights.

“That won’t go away until we’re given more of a medical green light there,” Mr Brown said.

Originally published as Hardline state border stance ‘holding Australia back’: Emirates