NT Government spent more than $72k on flights after Alice Springs quarantine overflow

THE NT Government spent more than $72,000 on flights transporting travellers between Alice Springs and Darwin after quarantine facilities in Central Australia were stretched over capacity last week.

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THE NT Government spent more than $72,000 on flights transporting travellers between Alice Springs and Darwin after quarantine facilities in Central Australia were stretched over capacity last week.

A surge of about 300 arrivals from South Australia requiring quarantine in Alice Springs pushed the Mercure Hotel, also known as the Todd Facility, over capacity last week.

Due to the lack of space, the government organised a charter flight with Alliance Airlines to transfer 71 residents from Alice Springs to the Howard Springs quarantine facility last Wednesday at the cost of $42,495.20 including GST.

The government also agreed to cover the costs of travellers who needed to return to Alice Springs after they left quarantine at Howard Springs.

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Then, after the NT revoked South Australia as a hot spot on Saturday, 58 people who were in Howard Springs were flown back to Alice Springs on a commercial Qantas flight at a cost of $30,138.16 including GST.

MORE TO COME.

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