Qantas sends SOS for pilots to fly on Wednesday

Qantas has sent out an urgent plea to unrostered pilots to fly three international flights and a number of domestic flights scheduled for Wednesday due to “critically short uncrewed flying for tomorrow April 13″. The communication, sent from Qantas Operations on Tuesday morning sighted by this masthead, said an unspecified flight to London, a Sydney to Johannesburg flight and a flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles were short of captains and first officers. It is also looking for an unspecified number of crew to pilot A330 domestic flights on Wednesday – the start of the busy Easter holiday break. Airlines have been in damage control over the past week as customers have taken to social media to complain about customer service phone wait times, culminating in Qantas issuing an email apology to its frequent flyers. The snaking queues of passengers at Sydney and Melbourne airports over the past four days is further evidence that neither the airlines nor the airports have properly prepared for the return of passengers following COVID-19.<br/>