Sydney Airport: How many international flights are running today?

I was out on a walk yesterday, and given that I live close to Sydney Airports flight path, I was surprised to see two United Airlines flights depart within about an hour.

Background

Since March, the skies over our house have been surprisingly quiet. So quiet in fact, that you tend to notice each and every flight, which makes me hit FlightRadar24, to see where a particular flight it heading.

That got me thinking – how many actual international flights are arriving and departing on a particular day in Sydney?

Well the answer is not that many.

Departures

Here is a screen grab of departing flights from Sydney Airport today (Tuesday 2 June 2020):

So, out of 12 scheduled flights, 6 were canceled, and the six that did fly were as follows:

• Auckland – Air New Zealand
• San Francisco – United Airlines
• Noumea – Air Calin
• Darwin – Royal Australian Airforce (ASY)
• Dubai – Emirates
• Doha – Qatar

The cancelled flights today were to:

• Auckland – Qantas
• New Delhi – Air India
• Denpasar – Garuda Indonesia
• Kuala Lumpur – Malindo Air
• Port Villa – Air Vanuatu
• Taiyuan – Hainan Airlines

Arrivals

We are not doing much better when it comes to arrivals. There were 14 scheduled, of which 6 were cancelled:

The 8 flights that arrived were from:

• Shanghai – China Eastern Airlines
• Hong Kong – Cathay Pacific Airways
• Noumea – Air Calin
• Brisbane – Royal Australian Airforce
• San Francisco – United Airlines
• Singapore – Singapore Airlines
• Doha – Qatar Airways
• Abu Dhabi – Etihad Airways

Flights cancelled, echo some of the airlines or destinations of the departures cancelled, totalling 6 were:

• Denpasar – Malindo Air
• New Delhi – Air India
• Denpasar – Garuda Indonesia
• Taiyuan – Hainan Airlines
• Port Villa – Air Vanuatu
• Qantas – Auckland

Australians still banned from international travel

Given that Australians are banned from international travel (with certain exceptions), and most evacuation flights from overseas destinations have finished, I’m sort of surprised at how many international flights there are.

From 25 March, Australin citizens and premanent residents have been banned from international travel unless they can plead that your travel meets one of the following exceptions:

• national interest
• compassionate or humanitarian grounds
• related to unavoidable/urgent personal business
• need to access medical care that is not available in Australia 
• for essential/critical industries and/or businesses
• part of the COVID-19 response, including the provision of aid 

Reports are that these exception need to be well argued.

2PAXfly Takeout

This is another timely reminder to wear your seatbelt when seated. Holding you close to your seat will protect you from the sort of injuries sustained on this flight, when unsecured passengers flew to the ceiling of the aircraft, and then came crashing down once the ‘drop’ ceased.

The hope will be that this is an anomaly – a ‘freak accident’ in casual parlance. If it is a systemic error either mechanical or electronic, then this is a larger concern for the airlines that fly Boeing Dreamliner 787 aircraft. Let’s hope it isn’t. If it is, it will pile on the woes to Boeing’s existing stack.

Australia is not talking about lifting restrictions on international flying anytime soon A return to international travel was not even mentioned in the Prime Minister’s 3 stage roadmap to recovery. We do know that before international travel is contemplated, the bans on travel between certain Australia states will need to be lifted. That’s probably a week to a month away.

The bets are on for a kind of ‘green’ corridor between Australia and New Zealand, that may be broadened to include some Pacific nations such as Fiji. Some Asian destinations such as Bali have indicated that they would like to see inclusion into this ‘green’ corridor too. Japan has even argued that given its precautions it would now meet the criteria for a substantially COVID-19 free destination.

Industry experts are fighting over various predicted dates, from as early as August (Graham Turner of Flight Centre), to a more staggered opening, which won’t see the full return of international travel until sometime in 2021.

The return to selective destinations could happen relatively soon and will depend mostly on infection rates in the chosen destinations. On this basis, the top three are probably:

• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Fiji

With Thailand and Japan coming next. Unfortunately, as we have seen in Singapore, and in a reverse way in Japan, infection rates can change dramatically in a very short time.

The UK, USA, China, Indonesia (possibly with the exception of Bali) and Italy/Europe are way down the list.

I have a trip to the Caribbean via New York booked for October. I have a feeling that seeming bargain with Qantas might evaporate.