Darwin airport - why no morning flights?

[Warks]

Just did my second trip out of Darwin in a month. Last time I flew to Cairns at 6 am so went straight to the airport as late as possible and jumped on the plane bypassing the QClub. This time I wanted to go straight home to Sydney but on booking I could only get red-eye flights at midnight or flights via Adelaide at 12 noon or Brisbane at 1250pm. Not much you can achieve on a stinking hot morning in Darwin so I went to the airport early to work in the Club for a while. Check in for Qantas didn't open until 10 am and the Club didn't open until 11 am! The coffee shop did good business for an hour out of the stranded Club members before we went in for our 40 minutes prior to boarding. Got to see a few RAAF jets take off from the smokers' deck though - loud or what?

The problem is it takes a whole day to get back from Darwin - got back at 9 pm. I'd have thought there'd be some morning flights out but perhaps only the RAAF and the UN use it in the morning. Bit of a waste of a day especially with no real Club access.

 

[NM]

You are correct. Appart from the really early morning flights (QF82 via ADL at 5:50am, QF1945 via ASP at 6:20am, and QF1943 via CNS at 6:50am), the next flights out are around midday. DJ have a similar gap.

My assumption is that the the QantasLink flights, QF1845 and QF1943 overnight in DRW, so are ready go move at first light. QF82 comes in from SIN, so is just an early morning connection following the short overnight hop south.

All QF and DJ mainline flights seem to be turn-arounds in DRW, so the evening arrivals turn around as red-eyes, and there are no QF or DJ mainline aircraft overnighting in DRW ready to op morning departures. So the midday departures are the turn-arounds of the arivals from SYD/BNE that left their origins in the early morning.

For example QF846 arrives into DRW at 9:55am from SYD having left SYD at 6:55am. So I guess in theory it could be ready for a pre 11am departure from DRW, but seems to hang around for the post noon departure.

The only reason I can see for grouping the flights as pre 7am and then post noon is to save staff costs by closing things like check-in and the lounge just as you found. Not ideal for people wanting to use their day for something more than just travel, but no doubt good for the QF and DJ bottom lines.

By the way, it seems DJ only have the one flight a day from each of SYD and BNE, arriving into DRW after 10pm and departing just after midnight as a red-eye return. So no competition for QF at the mid-morning timeslot.

Edited to add that this post makes me an official freak ! Hmm, freaky :roll: .

 

[straitman]

Edited to add that this post makes me an official freak icon_razz.gif ! Hmm, freaky icon_rolleyes.gif .

Congratulations to a fellow freak :!:

 

[Warks]

Thanks for the info 'freak'
I've got a long way to go.

I thought of another way to go back early would be to take the 6am flight to Cairns and then the next direct to Sydney or via BNE. Haven't checked the timetable or fares though. I've got to go back next month so will see - probably very expensive. It didn't come up as an option when I was looking for flights though.

Funny thing I was searching for a flight SYD to Canberra yesterday and one of the options involved returning via BNE!! I thought maybe it was a seat filler which would have been cheap but no it was $552 one way! Other flights ranged from $90 to $200!

 

[thadocta]

If your not in a hurry, catch The Ghan, will be operating twice weekly between Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide over the coming months.

Dave

 

[Warks]

If your not in a hurry, catch The Ghan, will be operating twice weekly between Darwin, Alice Springs and Adelaide over the coming months.

Dave

Thanks! I wish! :cry: