Flight ban leaves the Pilbara grounded

Karratha and Paraburdoo are among the latest regional destinations left in limbo after airlines cancelled flights in response to COVID-19. Residents were left stranded last week after Qantas cut routes connecting Perth and Paraburdoo and Perth and Karratha until April 16 at the time of print. A spokesman said Qantas and Jetstar made further cuts to domestic and regional flights across Australia, as travel restrictions meant demand had all but evaporated. “With these travel bans in place, we've had some flights with only one or two passengers onboard. That’s clearly not sustainable given the high costs of operating,” he said. But Pilbara residents who relied on regional flights for employment, health care and emergency purposes were outraged there was no community consultation. Sam Felix, of Karratha, said she was in Perth receiving vital chemotherapy treatment when Qantas cancelled her flight back to Karratha. “We were due to fly home on Friday. My son has driven down from Karratha and he should arrive this afternoon to pick us up,” she said. “We still haven’t heard anything from Qantas about our flight being cancelled. “At this point we don’t trust Qantas. There are so many people that this affects. Just to be forgotten about is pretty disappointing.” Tyrepro mechanical manager John Hanlon, of Tom Price, said he relied on the flight to get employees on site to provide essential automotive services to the community. “The part that is really frustrating is that over the past week on multiple occasions they have not corresponded with us at all via email or phone call or text message, they are just sending credits through via email with no explanation,” he said. “We looked and there wasn’t a lot of seats left so as far as I know there are people booked on these flights. “So, I’m not sure where this is coming from. “I just get super-annoyed that there is no explanation, there is no consultation, there is no opportunity to change it. It’s putting us all under extra duress. It’s pretty challenging for the community.” The Qantas spokesman said it remained in discussions with the Federal Government about operating a minimum domestic network for essential travel during the crisis. Virgin has announced it would temporarily suspend all passenger flying from last Friday except for a daily service between Melbourne and Sydney.