Emirates resume flights to Australia

EMIRATES B777-31H A6-ECV (MSN 35594)

Only last week (17th of January) I posted a story that Emirates had suspended flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane "until further notice" following a drastic reduction in the number of international passengers allowed to arrive in Australia.

The airline's last flights to and from those cities were as follows:

• Dubai-Brisbane (EK430), January 16
• Brisbane-Dubai (EK431), January 17
• Dubai-Sydney (EK414), January 18
• Sydney-Dubai (EK415), January 19
• Dubai-Melbourne (EK408), January 19
• Melbourne-Dubai (EK409), January 20

Well Emirates has just announced it will be resuming passenger flights to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane a week after announcing it was suspending the routes. The carrier hinted the original decision was due to the problems caused by new quarantine rules for staff rather than the national cabinet’s lowering of arrival caps, as initially thought. In December, NSW changed the rules so that crews from non-Australian airlines will have to stay in two police-supervised hotels. Victoria has followed with similar new restrictions. The old restrictions allowed airline employees to self-isolate at a designated location approved by the airline, so long as details were also shared with authorities. Crews could catch a taxi to their accommodation, providing they sat in the back and wore a mask. Emirates said it would restart Sydney flights from the 25th January, Melbourne flights from the 26th January, and Brisbane flights from the 28th January. “The pandemic has made international flying incredibly challenging, and the dynamic restrictions and requirements implemented by the different state authorities in Australia had added complexity and burden to our operations. This led us to temporarily suspend passenger services while we engaged with various stakeholders regarding crew protocols and other operational details,” Emirates said. “Following this engagement, we’ve made the decision to resume services with adjustments to our operations, so that we can continue serving our customers.