Australian Consulate-General in Chennai helped 210 passengers return to Australia from Chennai on Wednesday.
It also marked the first time a QANTAS plane flew to Chennai, and returned to Sydney with passengers. The Australian government supported the QANTAS flight, the 18th such flight the country has operated or facilitated to help Australians return home since the COVID-19 crisis began, said Susan Grace, Consul General of Australia in Chennai.
The flight crew was led by Captain Lisa Norman, who was the Captain on QANTAS’ record-breaking first flight from Perth to London in 2018, the release said.
The Australian Consulate-General in Chennai and other posts in India have supported Australians in arranging thousands of movement passes so that passengers can make these flights, the Consul General said, thanking the Central and State governments for assisting.
“It was great to see the ‘Flying Kangaroo’ [QANTAS] back in India, and in Chennai for the first time. Aviation links between Australia and India can be a great enabler of stronger trade, investment and people-to-people links in a post-COVID-19 world,” Ms. Grace said.