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Speaker 1: Yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Obviously you heard the Chief Minister Michael Gunner give us

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Speaker 2: a bit more detail I think you'd have to say

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Speaker 2: about these London dar and Direct flights and how they're

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Speaker 2: going to roll out in the requirements when it comes

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Speaker 2: to quarantine. Now it doesn't sound as though it's going

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Speaker 2: to be as easy as many of you might have thought.

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Speaker 2: You are still going to require a quarantine at Howard

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Speaker 2: Springs for fourteen days at this stage. But joining me

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Speaker 2: on the line to talk more about this from an

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Speaker 2: operational perspective is the acting CEO of the Darwen International Airport,

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Speaker 2: Tom Ganley.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Tom.

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Speaker 3: Good morning Katie, how are you very well?

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Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show. Tom. First up,

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Speaker 1: can I just clear.

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Speaker 2: Up because I know there was a bit of confusion

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Speaker 2: yesterday about whether there is actually a flight back from

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Speaker 2: London direct to Darwin.

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Speaker 1: Or do you need to go via Melbourne or Sydney.

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Speaker 3: The flight does return to Darwen and to Sydney, so

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Speaker 3: it will just depend on the quarantine restrictions at the

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Speaker 3: time as to where the passengers get off or go

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Speaker 3: on to Sydney. So yeah, I think the Chief Minister

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Speaker 3: spoke yesterday as you've just alluded to just on the

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Speaker 3: quarantine requirements in respect of the Northern Territory, So there

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Speaker 3: will be quarantine required indeed at whatever port the customers

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Speaker 3: get off.

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Speaker 1: Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Now, Tom, at this stage, what's the airport got to

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Speaker 2: do in terms of gearing up for these flights? Is

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Speaker 2: there many changes that need to take place or anything

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Speaker 2: out there at the airport.

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Speaker 3: We're very lucky, we're prepared. You know, we've undertaken repatriation

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Speaker 3: flights since August, and you know we've got international domestic

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Speaker 3: terminal here existing, so there is already that physical separation

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Speaker 3: between the flights. What we do have to do is

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Speaker 3: gear up because this is an exciting announcement. It means

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Speaker 3: you know, jobs, there's customs officers, there's fueling, there's ground

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Speaker 3: handlers required. So that's what we are required to do

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Speaker 3: is to bring people on board. The flight is coming

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Speaker 3: in in the evening, so it means we can keep

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Speaker 3: the terminal opening open in the evening. So we are

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Speaker 3: working very closely with help and Countesstance the other agencies

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Speaker 3: that are required to make this flight the absolute success

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Speaker 3: is going to be.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think that that's what we're all hoping

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Speaker 2: as well that if it is that, you know, it

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Speaker 2: can continue on post.

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Speaker 3: April, absolutely, and a lot of work goes into getting

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Speaker 3: new flights into Darwin, and you know, it is great

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Speaker 3: to have that connection, and you know we are geographically

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Speaker 3: very well plasced in the world. Indeed, we've been doing

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Speaker 3: these flights to London since nineteen thirty five, so it's

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Speaker 3: been long recognized just what a great connection point Darwin

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Speaker 3: is and bringing that critical mass up from Sydney and

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Speaker 3: indeed Melbourne on the eighteenth of December will really contribute

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Speaker 3: to the success of these flights.

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Speaker 2: Now do we know Tom give how many days a

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Speaker 2: week at this point in time these flights are going

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Speaker 2: to operate, and how many there will be a.

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Speaker 3: Week, So it's going to oper five days per week.

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Speaker 3: Wednesday and Sundays at this stage will not have flights.

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Speaker 3: But again, if there are a solid loading, so you know,

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Speaker 3: there's every opportunity for further flights to be to be

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Speaker 3: in stated. And the flight leaves here at twenty two

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Speaker 3: fifty five or ten fifty five in the evening and

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Speaker 3: gets into to London, you know, sort of just after daybreak,

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Speaker 3: just in time for breakfast, about six thirty in the morning,

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Speaker 3: seventeen hour flight or some there.

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Speaker 2: You go, well, that's good that obviously you're arriving there

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Speaker 2: for Brecky as well, able to get into it now operationally,

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Speaker 2: like in terms of they've sort of been discussion about

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Speaker 2: a bubble at the airport, but I'm assuming that that's

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Speaker 2: sort of similar to what you've already got operating at

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Speaker 2: the moment with those Repat flights.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so the passengers will not be mixing with other

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Speaker 3: passengers in the terminal. The International operation for anyone that

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Speaker 3: remembers the good old days of going to Bailia, it

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Speaker 3: is a separate part of the terminal. So the international

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Speaker 3: passengers will be in the international part of the terminal,

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Speaker 3: and there's that physical separation. Indeed, all of the passengers

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Speaker 3: will be required to have double vaccination and a PCR

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Speaker 3: test as indeed, anyone from Darwen joining the flight will be. Also,

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Speaker 3: you'll notice that Darwin is the only place and in

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Speaker 3: the Darwen terminal is the only place where you have

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Speaker 3: to wear masks as well, So our staff are vaccinated

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Speaker 3: and or wearing masks as well. And indeed anyone in

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Speaker 3: the terminals wearing a mask and.

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Speaker 2: Tom you mentioned before that you're going to need to

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Speaker 2: ramp up, you know, in terms of the staffing and

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Speaker 2: the operating hours at the airport as well.

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Speaker 1: I'm guessing with you know, with.

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Speaker 2: Some of the cafes and things like that that are

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Speaker 2: operating there, do you anticipate, like, is the airport going

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Speaker 2: to need to employ additional staff at this point?

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Speaker 3: Well, what it really does is reinforce job security. This

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Speaker 3: time last year we were in a world of pain,

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Speaker 3: so we had to reduce our workforce hours to eighty

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Speaker 3: percent and indeed, you know, we shut the terminal at

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Speaker 3: night in our Alice Springs operation was shut for two days.

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Speaker 3: So what this provides is critical mass and it enables

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Speaker 3: us to do other things. It enables us to invest

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Speaker 3: in the Northern Territory and the airport, so you'll see

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Speaker 3: a lot of roadworks happening around the airport. We're also

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Speaker 3: replacing our aerobridges, so having more flight, indeed opening up

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Speaker 3: the international capacity enables just critical functions to happen at

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Speaker 3: the airport.

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Speaker 2: Tom, how is a passenger capacity going at the moment?

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Speaker 2: I know it's sort of vebbed and flowed. I suppose

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Speaker 2: at different times based on those hot sports and Victoria

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Speaker 2: and indeed New South Wales at the moment still a concern.

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Speaker 1: But how are those numbers looking?

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Speaker 3: So certainly this compared to last August we're doing much

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Speaker 3: much better. But when we compare ourselves to twenty nineteen

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Speaker 3: sort of pre COVID, you know, our passenger numbers about

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Speaker 3: forty five percent of what they were, so we still

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Speaker 3: are at half passenger numbers, and of that essentially at

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Speaker 3: the moment our international passage numbers as zero. So with

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Speaker 3: these repatual with these commercial flights to London, we are

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Speaker 3: really reconstating international traps, can reconnecting Darwin to the world.

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Speaker 2: Well, Darwin International Airport Acting CEO, Tom Ganley, lovely to

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Speaker 2: speak to you this morning.

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Speaker 1: I really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 3: Thanks very much, Kate,