Qantas will help bring more than 400 Australians home from Lebanon after the airline confirmed it will operate two flights from Cyprus to Sydney.
The two assisted-departure flights, on Qantas Boeing 787 Dreamliners, will carry up to 440 passengers from Larnaca, in Cyprus, to Sydney.
The first flight will leave Cyprus on Monday evening local time before touching down in Sydney on Tuesday, while the second is scheduled to depart on Wednesday.
Qantas said it will run the humanitarian flights free of charge for the Federal Government and the passengers on board.
Head of Qantas’ integrated operations centre Ben Holland said several teams were working on the relevant logistics, supports and other resources required.
“We’re very experienced in the planning and execution of missions such as this,” Mr Holland said, citing similar repatriation flights for Australians stranded in Israel last year.
The airline expects to be flooded with pilots and cabin crew offering to work the flights, after 900 cabin crew expressed interest for 70 positions on its flights from Tel Aviv in October 2023.
The Qantas flights will support the government’s charter flights carrying up to 500 passengers from Lebanon, which is due to depart Beirut Airport for Larnaca tomorrow.
“This continues the Australian Government’s work with partners and commercial airlines, which has seen seats secured on several flights this week, including a Canadian assisted-departure flight last night which had 41 Australians on board,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong said.
Senator Wong said she was grateful for the national carrier’s assistance and that more flights were being planned with other airlines, subject to demand.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is advising Australians who want to leave Lebanon via Cyprus to register at DFAT’s Crisis Portal. If you have already registered with DFAT you do not need to register again.
For urgent consular assistance, Australians should continue to call the Australian Government’s 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas) or 1300 555 135 (from within Australia).
