The number of flights operating in Australia has been reduced dramatically as the country locks down, but there are still some reasons people need to fly.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
There were 267 planes flying out of Canberra on March 19 before personal restrictions were tightened due to coronavirus.
One month later, on April 19, there were just five flights out of Canberra - three to Sydney, one to Melbourne and one to Newcastle.
It is a similar story at regional airports: Newcastle had dropped from 50 to two, Launceston from 51 to two and Albury from 27 to zero on Sunday.
But the schedules are changing every day.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Airlines for Australia and New Zealand chief executive Alison Roberts said in a challenging environment, Qantas, Virgin and Regional Express were all still offering limited flights, but the schedule changed daily.
She said the biggest reason for flying was freight, as 60 per cent of Australia's freight transported by air actually occurred on commercial passenger flights, as well as movement for essential reasons, both related to coronavirus and other needs.
Some people were still looking for flights within Australia to get back home after being quarantined for two weeks because they had arrived from overseas.
"That's to get people back home," Ms Roberts said.
"There's been flights operating with two or three people on board, which is not commercially sustainable.
"Part of the balance is to keep capacity for when it is needed and that includes a lot of fixed costs."
Freight on these limited commercial flights included food that would spoil on long-haul truck trips, medical supplies and even office supplies to meet the increased demand as people work and study from home.
"People for example accessing cancer treatment in major cities who have to come from the regions ... People are still moving about in a very limited manner, but there's some movement of essential supplies," Ms Roberts said.
"The most important thing is to ensure supplies were there and that towns were not cut off from receiving pharmacy medicines that are particularly important.
"They are transported via flights so they've got to get to where they're needed so we don't see people with regular and chronic conditions run out of their essential medicines and be able to get essential medicines to pharmacies.
"Those conditions carry on in a pandemic and in fact, those people are more at risk."
She said demand for passenger travel had dropped to as low as five per cent of what it was because people were no longer flying for holidays or to visit friends and family.
Airlines introduced cleaning and social distancing protocols back in February, and Ms Roberts said air filters on planes reduced the risks - there have been no recorded community transmissions of coronavirus on planes.
She said the industry was grateful for government support to keep the airlines operating, so they could stand up quickly and start flying again more when needed.
