Brisbane travellers in limbo as Emirates, Qatar cancel flights
International flight paths have been plunged into disarray after conflict erupted in the Middle East with two major airlines cancelling flights out of Brisbane. One Queenslander tells of scrabbling for a flight amid the chaos.
Travel plans are in chaos for passengers travelling between Brisbane and the Middle East, after Emirates and Qatar airways suspended flights.
Airports across the globe have been thrown into disarray after the missile attack in Iran created a no-fly zone in Middle Eastern airspace.
A Brisbane Airport spokesperson said two Emirates flights bound for Dubai and a Qatar flight bound for Doha have been cancelled while a Virgin flight bound for Doha was returned mid-air to Brisbane.
“Brisbane Airport is urging passengers to check directly with their airline for the latest updates on flight schedules due to the evolving situation in the Middle East,” an airport spokesperson told InDaily.
“Further changes may occur at short notice.”
Queensland traveller, Kaelynn Rossetto, 22, was due to travel from Manila to Glasgow with a connecting flight in Dubai on the evening of Sunday, March 1, when news of America and Israel’s attack on Iran disrupted flights across the Middle East.
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When both of Rossetto’s flights in and out of Dubai were cancelled, she found herself stuck in Manila with no feasible way back to Scotland, where she had been living since October last year.
The only safe route back to Glasgow from Manila that Rossetto could find had layovers in both Taiwan and Amsterdam, but would have cost $7393.
Instead, Rossetto decided to catch a flight back to Brisbane to reunite with family before deciding how to best get back to Scotland.
“During check-in and security at the Siargao Airport I saw my flight from Dubai to Glasgow was cancelled and was told by member of staff that my Manila to Dubai flight would also be cancelled,” Rossetto said.
“That’s when I had to start deciding what I was going to do next and the main deciding factor was that I wanted to see my sister in Australia who is pregnant.”
“I was really upset and really overwhelmed and I had nowhere to charge my phone and no way to contact my family and so on my last remaining five per cent I managed to book a flight to Brisbane.”
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Meanwhile, Australia is considering how it can help bring tens of thousands of people home from the Middle East as airspaces remain closed, preventing any flights.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said there were about 115,000 Australians in the region as airspaces remain closed.
“The fastest way to get people home would be if commercial flights recommence,” she said on Monday.
“We are always looking at home (how) we might support Australians … and airspace is not open.
“Whether or not it is an Australian flight or a commercial flight, the flights are not able to occur.”
Wong said a portal will be available to people in Iran, Israel, Qatar and the UAE to give them the most up to date information.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said US facilities in Australia were not used in the attack, and also described Iran’s leadership as “abhorrent”.
“We do support the action that the United States has taken, and we very much stand with the Iranian people in this moment,” he told ABC radio.
Asked if the attacks were deemed legal under international law, Marles replied: “Ultimately, the legality of these measures is a matter for both the United States and Israel to go through.”
The US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, killing its leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 40 senior officials, as the two nations push for regime change.
US President Donald Trump told the Daily Mail the war in Iran would take “four weeks or so”.
Three American troops have been killed in the conflict and five others have been wounded, the Pentagon confirmed.
– with AAP
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