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With Australia set to reopen its borders to tourists on Monday (21 February), Qantas has confirmed it will keep flying its double-daily direct flights from Australia to London via Darwin, rather than via Perth – though it seems British holidaymakers have little desire to visit Australia.
Qantas said yesterday it was sticking with Darwin at least till June, “following ongoing uncertainty around the reopening of the West Australian border and testing requirements for passengers transiting through Singapore”.
At the same time, new data provided exclusively to the Sydney Morning Herald and the Age suggests that travellers from Britain are in no rush to visit Australia. A survey conducted in the UK found respondents ranked Australia last among destinations they planned to visit.
Price and distance were the main dissuaders, rather than border closures or the pandemic. Of those Britons who planned to travel abroad, 78% aimed to visit Europe, 15% North America, 12% Asia, 10% Africa, 7% South America – and just 6% to Australia.
The recent announcement that Australia would open its international border – for the first time since it closed in early 2020 – produced a short sharp spike in searches for Australian travel, but the industry needs sustained interest. Tourism Australia has started an advertising campaign.
When international travel resumed (with provisos) in November last year, Western Australia remained closed, so Qantas temporarily re-routed its Perth to London service via Darwin. Western Australia is still closed.
Qantas worked with the Northern Territory Government to set up Darwin as an alternative hub, allowing passengers to arrive in or transit through the Territory capital as they returned home to Australia or travelled overseas to reunite with loved ones.
The Perth to London service was scheduled to revert to operating via Perth in April, but with the West Australian Government yet to confirm a reopening date for the state, Qantas will keep operating the route via Darwin until at least June 2022.
WA Premier Mark McGowan pledged yesterday that sometime this month, he will name the date of Western Australia’s border reopening. He provided no further insight on when exactly the announcement would be made or when the border might open.
That’s too vague for Qantas – an airline needs certainty for scheduling.
To streamline transit arrangements for passengers, Qantas will also continue to operate the Sydney to London flight via Darwin instead of through Singapore until June 2022.
Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce said the support of the NT Government had made it possible for Qantas to relaunch the key Australia-UK route and the extension would let the Northern Territory capitalise on pent-up international demand to visit Australia.
“The work of the Chief Minister and his team, and the cooperation of Darwin Airport, have made running and now extending this service possible. Because of their help, flying between Australia and London has been a lot easier than it might have been otherwise,” Joyce said.
“This extension through to at least mid-June means the Top End has several months to properly leverage the opening up of Australia’s borders to all tourists. It’s a great opportunity to encourage thousands of visitors to stop off in Darwin to see what the NT has to offer.”
Lets hope tourists from Britain rediscover the appeal of Australia.
Qantas currently operates daily flights from both Melbourne and Sydney to London (via Darwin) on its 787 Dreamliner.
Written by Peter Needham