QANTAS: To stick with Darwin before Singapore and Perth

Qantas will maintain Darwin as its waypoint on the way to London for the moment. It was to resume using Perth once Western Australian borders were open, originally scheduled for 5 February 2022, but since delayed indefinitely.

It was also going to resume using Singapore as a waypoint for QF1/2 out of Sydney, but has also delayed that – presumably due to Singapore’s changing transit arrangements.

So QF1/QF2 Sydney to London will have a 90-minute stopover in Darwin, not Singapore, and QF9 and QF10 will break their trip for the same amount of time also in Darwin, where you can spend some time in the temporary, Qantas run repurposed Catalina Lounge. So it looks like that ‘short term solution’ will be in place for a few months longer.

Singapore First Lounge and A380 service

Looks like this lounge will continue in its mothballed state until June too. Sydney to London passengers on the A380 service, set to resume on 19 June should start placing their bets on whether they will be heading to the UK via Singapore or Darwin. ET is reporting a Qantas spokesperson as saying that this decision will not impact the planned return of the A380 service, which doesn’t quite answer the question about via Darwin or Singapore, does it?

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.

These days, the only constant is change. Darwin would be fun, but Singapore would be better. Still and A380 anywhere is always a good start to a great adventure.