Jetstar confirms its schedule for Melbourne to Ballina Byron flights for this week

Passengers on flights from Melbourne will be asked to complete a declaration prior to arrival at Ballina Byron Gateway Airport, among other security measures.

Jetstar is the only carrier currently flying between Ballina and Melbourne.

Jetstar has confirmed its flying schedule between Melbourne and Ballina Byron Gateway Airport for this week.

A spokesman for the company said the schedule will include six return flights.

“Next week, we will operate our current schedule with six weekly return flights between Melbourne and Ballina,” he said.

The schedule means six daily flights every day next week, except Wednesday.

Last week, Victoria’s “circuit breaker” lockdown was been extended for parts of the state after days of rising Covid-19 infections.

Jetstar has defended continuing its flights between Ballina Byron and Melbourne after the lockdown started, although Northern Star readers were overwhelmingly critical of the idea on social media.

NSW has not closed the border with Victoria, so the flights are allowed in, but Premier Gladys Berejiklian has demanded anyone in NSW who has been to Victoria follow the stay-at-home measures that would have applied if they were still south of the border.

The border has remained open, even after it was confirmed that a Victorian infected with Covid-19 travelled to four regional NSW towns, visiting a Coles, potentially exposing NSW to the virus.

Ballina Byron Gateway Airport general manager, Julie Stewart, outlined the extra measures it had put in place to ensure staff, passengers and the general public remained safe.

“No member of the public is permitted into the arrivals hall to collect passengers unless they are a carer for a passenger on the inbound flight,” the executive said.

“Currently, passengers on flights from Melbourne are requested in-flight to complete a declaration prior to arrival at Ballina Byron Gateway Airport.”