Majority of Darwin-bound flights cancelled amid introduction of tighter quarantine controls

DARWIN Airport was empty on Sunday amid tighter quarantine controls being introduced across the country.

Darwin International Airport has been near empty for most of this week due to coronavirus-related flight cancellations. Picture: Glenn Campbell

AN INTERNATIONAL flight from Singapore to Darwin was one of 16 flights headed to the Top End cancelled since Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Out of 22 scheduled flights to arrive in Darwin on Saturday, 16 were cancelled, including a red-eye service from Singapore on Saturday night.

The cancelled Singapore Airlines flight was also not listed on Darwin’s flight arrival list, which will usually highlight whether or not a flight has been mothballed.

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Domestic cancellations were across the board, from all corners of the nation, including Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Cairns.

The cancellations did not discriminate between airlines either, with aircraft from Virgin, Qantas, Air New Zealand, Jetstar and China Eastern all left sitting on tarmac.

All flights inside the Territory were still operating, with arrivals and departures from Maningrida, Milingimbi, Alice Springs, Gove and Groote Eylandt.

The only international departure from Darwin was a Jetstar flight to Denpasar, Bali.

All international arrivals in Australia will now have to undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine, with patrons being picked up by bus from the runway tarmac, and delivered to hotels where they can isolate and undergo health monitoring measures.

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The first of the arrivals in the Territory under these regulations was a flight from Dilli on Saturday carrying 16 people.

The passengers are all in isolation at the Eaton’s Mercure Airport Hotel.