Qantas has been forced to offload passengers and bags from its Darwin-London flights over recent days due to repair works taking place on the main runway at Darwin International Airport.
Numerous passengers have been bumped from flights QF1 and QF9 in recent days, often with little warning. One Qantas passenger, for example, was sent an email the night before they were due to fly containing a new ticket for a flight on Emirates via Dubai.
Bizarrely, Qantas had rebooked this passenger without their consent on a new Emirates flight arriving more than two days later than originally booked. This customer then had to call Qantas multiple times, waiting a long time on hold, to eventually get rebooked onto a more suitable alternative flight with Qatar Airways.
As a result of this situation, Qantas has also stopped selling new seats from Darwin to London over the coming days. At the time of writing (Saturday 30 April), the next available seat for sale on any Qantas flight from Darwin to London is next Tuesday.
Qantas has also been advising passengers booked to fly from Sydney, Melbourne or Darwin to London over the coming days to pack important supplies such as medicine in their hand luggage, as some checked bags will need to be carried to London on alternative services and may arrive a day later.
Qantas has told passengers that this is due to the flights being “weight restricted”.
Why are Qantas’ Darwin-London flights being weight-restricted?
Unfortunately for Qantas, there are currently asphalt repair works in progress on runway 29 at Darwin International Airport. Most of the runway is still serviceable, but the available length has been temporarily shortened by 995 metres.
With less runway length available, Qantas has therefore had to restrict the takeoff weight of its ultra long-haul flights to London so that the plane is able to safely get off the ground.
It’s an unfortunate situation but is not Qantas’ fault. The only real alternative would be for Qantas to add an extra refuelling stop between Darwin and London – an option that would cost the airline a lot of money and add several hours to the flight time.
The problem is slightly exacerbated by the longer flight path Qantas is now using between Darwin and London which avoids Russian airspace. The longer flight path means Qantas needs to carry extra fuel, which in turn reduces the weight available to carry passengers and baggage while remaining below the reduced maximum takeoff weight.
The runway repairs were due to be completed by Saturday evening. A Qantas spokesperson confirmed that flights were no longer being weight restricted from Sunday 1 May.
“An issue with the runway pavement at Darwin Airport resulted in temporary additional weight restrictions on our flights to London last week and unfortunately that meant we weren’t able to carry some passengers’ bags on their flight,” the Qantas spokesperson said.
“Bags were reaccommodated on later flights and are couriered directly to customers as soon as we’re able to confirm the correct address. We apologise the inconvenience this has caused our passengers and thank them for their understanding.
“We’re advised that the pavement issue causing the weight restriction has now been fixed.”
The return leg from London to Darwin is not affected.
Australian Frequent Flyer reached out to Darwin International Airport for comment.
Qantas flights continue via Darwin until 19 June 2022
Qantas is currently operating both its daily Sydney-London and Melbourne-London flights via Darwin. But QF1 from Sydney to London will revert to its usual Singapore stopover from 19 June 2022. (From this date, it will also switch from a Boeing 787-9 to an Airbus A380 service.)
Qantas will resume running QF9 from Melbourne to London via Perth, instead of Darwin, from the same date.
Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: Qantas last minute QF9 cancellation / bumping
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