Use domestic quarantine rooms for Aussies abroad, say airlines

International airlines have urged NSW to allocate domestic quarantine hotel rooms to overseas arrivals when the NSW-Victoria border reopens to allow more stranded Australians to return home. The Board of Airline Representatives of Australia (BARA) also said an apparent delay in telling its members what the latest arrival caps are has caused flights to be cancelled and capacity to be reduced. The ‘arrival cap’ restrictions limiting the number of Australians who could fly home at any one time were first introduced in July to regulate the flow of people arriving into government quarantine facilities and have been extended multiple times. Critics have argued that decision has stopped Australians abroad being able to return home by reducing availability and increasing prices. Despite the ‘cap’ lifting from 4,000 to 6,000 and a special use of the Howard Springs facility being green-lit last week, BARA is urging states and the federal government to do more to raise the limits. The organisation has previously estimated more than 100,000 Australians are stranded abroad looking to return home, with 30,000 alone in London. <br/>