Coronavirus: No place like home as Heathrow to Top End flight a relief

The first Qantas international flight in four months leaves London direct for Darwin carrying 175 Australians, many trying to get home since March.

Mattias, Isabella, Natalia, James and Timothy Murphy at London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday. Picture: Annabel Moeller

Australian missionaries from Alban­ia, a family of five from Ireland, a Brisbane woman 35 weeks’ pregnant and a recently unemployed schoolteacher were among the 175 Australians on a special repatriatio­n flight from Heathrow direct to Darwin on Thursday.

For Qantas, it was the first international non-stop flight to the Top End, and the first inter­national flight in four months.

For the 175 passengers, nearly all identified as extremely vulnerable by the Australian high commission in London, lining up to check in was the last anxious step towards getting home.

Many of the returnees have been trying to get home since the coronavirus lockdown in March.

Repeated flight cancellations, getting bumped off flights and sudden­ life changes, including the loss of jobs, had thrown many into a high state of stress for months.

Most have had no recourse to Australian social security payments, having to pay thousands of dollars for several flights — some of which still have not been ­refunded — and then stumping up for the quarantine payments.

The passengers on the repatriation flight paid $2500 for a seat, then another $2500 for the mandatory quarantine at Howard Springs in Darwin’s outskirts.

Teacher Rebecca Clare, 53, had to borrow from her elderly­ mother for the fare. “All my money is gone, I had set up in London and then suddenly had no job,’’ she said.

“When that happened I was in shock and went cycling in Wales but that was a mistake: I was in a dark place and depressed and was surprised how petrified I was with the thought I can’t get back home.’’

James and Natalia Murphy had a long-term plan to return to Brisbane in September so their children — Isabella, 5, Timothy, 3, and one-year-old Mattias — could grow up with the space and sunshine of Queensland. They discovered they were on the repatriation flight six days ago, then had to pack 100kg of luggage, get to London and undergo a COVID-19 test.

“We didn’t have final confirm­ation we were on the flight until Sunday, so its been a whirlwind,’’ Mr Murphy said. “It’s a relief really to have got this far.’’

Tiffany and Lachlan Struthers found sanctuary with a Birmingham vicar three weeks ago to prepare for the birth of their first child, having been in Albania for three years. “We have been trying to get home but thought if we were stuck it would be better to be in Britain,’’ said Ms Struthers, 23. “When we got the call, we wondered: are we among the worst cases?’’