Hundreds of Australian expats to fly to Darwin in 8 repatriation flights

TECHNICAL issues with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s RAAF plane may mean Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s trip to Sydney — to finalise the arrangements of eight repatriation flights of Aussies from overseas in person —was a waste of time

• MP Luke Gosling blasts Australia’s international arrivals cap, says the NT should be used to bring home more Aussies stranded overseas
• Border Force rejects ambitious Singapore-Darwin expat rescue plan
• Darwin grandma stranded overseas for six months during pandemic

TECHNICAL issues with Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s RAAF plane may mean Chief Minister Michael Gunner’s trip to Sydney to finalise the arrangements of eight repatriation flights of Aussies from overseas was a waste of time.

It is the first time Mr Gunner, who is currently in the air and expected to land within the hour, has left the Northern Territory since March.

Mr Morrison, however, has been grounded in Queensland.

Earlier the NT News broke the news that eight repatriation flights are expected to fly into Darwin in coming weeks, with two planes likely to arrive within the next fortnight.

MORE NT NEWS

DARWIN airport ‘primed and ready’ to take in international arrivals as calls grow for government to help stranded Aussies

NT Government in discussions with Commonwealth about using Howard Springs for returning Aussies

NT Government ‘open’ to taking in more overseas arrivals at the Howard Springs facility

Qantas staff were told in a virtual conference meeting this morning that four 787 aircraft would fly Australian expats home from London and another four 787s would return people from Delhi.

It’s understood up to 500 people will arrive in the Top End every two weeks.

Mr Gunner’s office told the NT News the NT Government had always been open to Australians returning home via NT quarantine but this had not been happening due to a lack of commercial flights.

It’s understood discussion about the new repatriation plans began in earnest between the Prime Minister’s office, Qantas and the NT Government about a month ago.

While the plans have not been completely finalised yet, its understood flight dates and numbers will likely be confirmed tomorrow.

A Qantas 787 can hold 236 people, meaning almost 2000 people could be repatriated to Australia in these flights.

LIMITED TIME: New NT News subscription offer: $1 a week for the first 12 weeks

All eight flights are expected to fly directly to Darwin, with evacuees to quarantine at Howard Springs for 14 days.

It’s not the first time Australians have been repatriated to Darwin from overseas during the coronavirus crisis.

In February, Howard Springs received hundreds of evacuees from the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan and later from the troubled cruiseship the Diamond Princess.

MORE TO COME

Follow @PhillippaButt