It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Australians stranded abroad need to return home. (Photo of Sydney Morning Herald)
Qantas (Qantas) and Virgin Airlines (Virgin) have reached an agreement with Morrison (Scott Morrison) government to start planning rescue flights overseas to bring back stranded Australians.
Hundreds of thousands of australians are currently estimated to need to return home, many of whom are stranded in countries that impose strict closures and ban international flights, the sydney morning herald reported.
The Deputy Prime Minister, McCormack (Michael McCormack), and the Foreign minister, Penn (Marise Payne), issued a joint statement stating that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) was "day and night" assisting Australians in need of returning home.
"COVID-19 affected hundreds of thousands of Australians travelling abroad and disrupted their movements. In some cases, this makes it difficult for them to return to Australia. We understand that this is a period of anxiety for many Australians and their families. The statement states :" The choice of commercial flights has decreased rapidly, including the cancellation of flights with little or no notice, and additional restrictions on travel and transit. Many countries are closing their borders and restricting domestic mobility. "
"Some countries and cities are still running limited commercial flights, but we are aware that in many countries this is no longer an option ," McCormack and Payne said. We urge Australians with the opportunity to act quickly. "
"government thanks to Qantas and Virgin for their willingness to maintain their flights to the main hubs in order to bring them home. The existing flights in their location are overloaded. At the same time last night, government agreed to consider, depending on the circumstances, supporting our airlines to run flights to non-core areas on a regular basis, so as to take Australians home. But this can only be done if feasible and all other commercial flight options are exhausted and local government allow such flights. "
However, McCormack and Payne say government have no plans to assist in leaving the country like evacuees from Wuhan. "As with many visitors, it may be necessary for some Australians to stay overseas as safe and comfortable as possible, but also to follow the instructions of local government ," they cautioned. "
Before the announcement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned that Australians stranded overseas would have to stay in place for a longer period of time until they could be scheduled to leave the country or the border in the area concerned would be closed.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaker added that the department was working with foreign government and the aviation industry to help Australians return home, but did not respond to the question of how and by whom their staff returned to Australia.
Currently, the Peruvian government has allowed one evacuation flight a day from its military airport. The Australian flight is scheduled to leave Peru on Friday. but the related companies are still waiting for the final approval from both countries.
