Prior to the pandemic, the managing director of ASX-listed whisky maker Lark Distilery, Geoff Bainbridge, would take monthly long-haul business trips to the United States and Europe. But his latest trip did not even get him out of Queensland.

“I had to get to Brisbane for work and there were literally no flights,” he said. “Normally I’d do a 24-hour flight and it’d be to London, but I had to get a 24-hour train to get from Cairns to Brisbane.”