Raised flight caps welcome but much more needed to help stranded Australians, airlines warn

Airlines flying stranded Australians home have said national cabinet’s decision to increase the weekly intake of international passengers doesn’t go far enough. The 2,000 a week increase announced on Friday is “certainly not an ‘Oh wow, I can finally get on a flight home now’ moment,” said the executive director of the Board of Airline Representatives of Australia, Barry Abrams. The airlines warned the majority of the 27,000 Australians stranded overseas would continue to struggle to access flights for several months unless the arrival caps were boosted significantly. Abrams said the proposed increase “doesn’t add a lot for Australians overseas” but a suggestion arrivals from New Zealand could soon skip hotel quarantine would create considerable capacity for other international passengers. The federal opposition also criticised details of national cabinet’s Friday agreement to boost weekly arrivals from 4,000 to 6,000. It argued the government should draw on more commonwealth resources – including 3,000 available beds at the Howard Springs quarantine facility in the Northern Territory – to repatriate desperate Australians faster. On Friday, Scott Morrison announced New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland had each agreed to increase their weekly arrival intakes by 500 passengers. Story has more.<br/>