Teddies, kosher meals on board Qantas A380 rescue flight

Around 900 Qantas employees offered to help bring Australians home from Israel, with 300 passengers now on their way home to Sydney on an A380.

A Qantas A380 bringing passengers home from Tel Aviv is due into Sydney on Wednesday night. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

A Qantas A380 has brought 300 people home to Australia from war-torn Israel as commercial flights in and out of Tel Aviv reduced to a trickle.

Flight QF310 operating as ASY1172 departed London on Tuesday with passengers Qantas had flown from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport on a Boeing 787-9 last Friday.

Four-engine aircraft are not allowed to land at Ben Gurion, which is why Qantas sent a two-engine 787 with 236 seats, rather than the larger A380.

From London, the super jumbo flew to Dubai to pick up more Australians carried out of Tel Aviv on flights organised by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The service was due to arrive in Sydney a little later than planned, about 8.30pm on Wednesday.

A Qantas spokesperson said passengers were being supported by the airline with accommodation in London and in Sydney if required before going on to other destinations.

A full kosher menu was offered on board, and the 50 children and infants on the flight were welcomed with Red Cross teddy bears.

Teddies from Red Cross handed out to children on the Qantas repatriation flight, bringing Australians home from Israel. Picture: Supplied

The spokesperson said about 900 employees had volunteered to assist with the flight when the call went out last week. On the final leg, more than 20 crew were on board, including cabin crew, pilots, engineers and customer service staff.

Qantas had planned to operate a second flight into Tel Aviv but was forced to cancel due to the increasing instability in Israel.

However, the spokesperson said Qantas had informed the government the airline was willing to do more to assist if and when required.

Emirates confirmed it would also operate a special repatriation flight on Thursday to help Australians impacted by the events in Israel return home.

Flight EK2616 was scheduled to depart Dubai at 9:40am Thursday, arriving in Sydney early Friday morning.

Anyone wishing to travel on the flight was advised to contact Emirates call centre or sales office, or their nearest Australian consulate or embassy.

“We have made aircraft and crew available and put them on standby to activate over the past days, pending confirmation of passenger numbers and other details from the Australian government,” said an Emirates spokesman.

“The situation remains dynamic, and we continue to work closely with our partners on efforts to evacuate and repatriate Australians.”

Emirates has suspended flights in and out of Tel Aviv until at least October 26, in line with many other foreign carriers including British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM, Air France, United, American and Delta.

Flight radar image shows most airlines are avoiding the airspace over Israel with the exception of local carriers. Picture: Flightradar24

Flight radar images showed the airspace over Israel with just a smattering of aircraft as commercial services avoided the warzone.

Those continuing to operate include Israeli flag carrier El Al, which initially increased services but has warned of reduced flying because of the volatile situation.

Qantas said its scheduled services to London from Perth and Singapore were not being affected by the situation in Israel, because they did not operate through that airspace.

Originally published as Teddies, kosher meals on board Qantas A380 rescue flight